Congo shocker fells Ivanhoe Mines stock

Shares in Canada's Ivanhoe Mines fell sharply on Wednesday after lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ivanhoe is advancing two major projects, voted in favour of new mining laws that immediately lifts a provision exempting licence holders of compliance with the new code for 10 years.

Ivanhoe Mines, headed by billionaire mining financier Robert Friedland, ended down 11.3% on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, not far off its lows for the day.

The Vancouver-based company, worth $2.8 billion after the day's losses, is in partnership with China's Zijin Mining on the Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the Central African nation, considered the largest high-grade copper project in development globally with a copper resource of more than 30m tonnes. Ivanhoe is also building a new operation at Kipushi, a past producing zinc-copper mine in partnership with Congo's state-owned Gécamines.

Firms operating inside the country which includes Glencore, Randgold Resources, China Molybdenum, Eurasian Resources Group, MMG and others will immediately be subjected to higher royalties on metals including copper, cobalt and gold, as well as a new 50% tax on so-called super profits.

Super profits are being defined as income realized when commodity prices rise 25% above levels included in a project's bankable-feasibility study. Given the improvement the price of most metals over the past couple of years – copper is up 67% since January 2016 and zinc +130% – having to deal with the new levy is more than just a possibility.

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Congo just gave the cobalt price another big boost

Miners and explorers knew that the Democratic Republic of Congo would be raising taxes and royalties, but were blindsided on Wednesday when lawmakers of the country voted in favour of an immediate lifting of a provision exempting licence holders of compliance with the new code for 10 years.

That means mines and projects run by companies including Glencore, Randgold Resources, China Molybdenum, Eurasian Resources Group, MMG and Ivanhoe Mines will immediately be subjected to higher royalties on metals including copper, cobalt and gold, as well as a new 50% tax on so-called super profits.

Super profits are being defined as income realized when commodity prices rise 25% above levels included in a project's bankable-feasibility study. Given the improvement the price of most metals over the past couple of years – copper is up 67% since January 2016 and cobalt +150% – having to deal with the new levy is more than just a possibility.

The new code also permits the DRC to raise the royalty on cobalt to 10% from 2% if the government categorizes the mineral as a "strategic substance."

The new code also permits the DRC to raise the royalty on cobalt to 10% from 2% if the government categorizes the mineral as a "strategic substance."

Cobalt has become the hottest commodity in mining over an expected boom in demand from electric vehicles, most of which will be powered by nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries.

Annual production of the raw material is only around 100,000 tonnes primarily as a byproduct of nickel and copper mining with more than 60% coming from the DRC, where fears about political instability and the challenges of ethical sourcing combine to supercharge supply concerns. The country is only set to tighten its grip on supply as Glencore restarts its Katanga mine, ERG's $1 billion RTR operation comes on stream later this year and Nzuri Copper's advanced Kalongwe project enters production.

Bloomberg reports the central African nation's parliament went ahead with the changes to the 2002 code even after Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg visited the country and met personally with President Joseph Kabila.

The instant application of the new measures appears to have come as a surprise to Congo's mining industry. The tax increases "can in no way affect the current titleholders before the expiry of a 10-year period from the planned revision," according to a statement published by Glencore, Randgold, Ivanhoe and MMG on December 11.

(Bloomberg contributed to this article)

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Rio Tinto rejects allegation it dodged $700 million in Oyu Tolgoi taxes

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO), the world’s second largest mining company, denied Wednesday a report released by a Dutch non-profit organization claiming it had dodged $700 million in taxes to Mongolian and Canadian authorities relating to its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine.

According to the Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), Rio and its Canadian subsidiary Turquoise Hill (TSX, NYSE:TQR), avoided nearly $470 million in Canadian taxes by using mailbox companies in two tax havens, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The publication also claims that, through an investment agreement covering the Oyu Tolgoi, Rio has caused Mongolia a $230 million tax revenue loss.

“It’s shameless tax avoidance,” said Vincent Kiezebrink, one of the report’s authors. “It doesn’t just affect the world poorest, but also regular people in Western countries as well.”

Rio Tinto, which is in the midst of executing a $5.3 billion underground expansion of the giant copper-gold operation, denied SOMO’s claims.

“The flawed SOMO report contains a number of unsubstantiated and incorrect allegations regarding tax,” Rio Tinto said in an email statement.

According to the company, Oyu Tolgoi’s structure was agreed beforehand between the company and the Canadian and Mongolian governments. It added the tax outcomes were in line with those in Australia, the US and Chile.

More to come…

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Une orque du Marineland d'Antibes dit « hello » et « bye bye » !

Des scientifiques ont travaillé avec une orque du parc Marineland d’Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes). Leur recherche montre que l'animal reproduit des sons pour mimer le langage humain. Si l'orque ne sait pas vraiment parler, elle fait cependant preuve de bonnes capacités d'apprentissage vocal.

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Centamin shareholders get bumper divvy, despite 2017 profit fall

Egypt-focused gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) delivered good news to its shareholders on Wednesdays, announcing it would pay a final dividend of 10 US cents per share, or a total of $144 million, as it vowed to return all of its excess cash to investors.

The payment, on top of 2.5 cents given at the half-year, follows an $111 million compensation to Egypt in 2017, the first year of Centamin’s profit-sharing deal with the country’s government.

The company's only producing mine — Sukari — has yielded every single commercial ounce of gold Egypt has exported over the past eight years, which by the end of 2017 stood at over 2.9 million ounces.

Such agreement, which kicked in when the company finished paying off the capital costs of Sukari, its only producing mine, gives Egypt 40% of profits for the next three years, and 50% after that.

The dividend, which almost double some analyst estimates, came despite a 13% drop in core profit for 2017 due to falling gold production and higher costs.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to $326 million in the year ended on Dec. 31, the miner said.

Sukari, which began operations in January 2010, produced 544,658 ounces of gold last year at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $790 an ounce. Set against an average price received of $1,261 per ounce, the mine generated $224 million in pre-tax profits for 2017.

“Sukari has produced every single commercial ounce of gold that Egypt has exported over the past eight years, which by the end of 2017 stood at over 2.9 million ounces,” the company’s chairman, Josef El-Raghy, said in a statement.

Centamin, which has been looking into expanding beyond Egypt by exploring and developing three gold projects in two other African countries, doubled the expected gold resource found at the Ivory Coast asset, and said it had also discovered another “exciting” discovery of a 12km-long “gold bearing structure”.

In Burkina Faso, the company is drilling the targeted resource and reserve expansion near Konkera.

Centamin chief executive, Andrew Pardey, said that despite the initial positive results outside Egypt, the company would not build a mine “for the sake of it.”

“We’d like to have a portfolio of mines, we’d like to have more mines in Egypt as well,” he told investors while delivering full-year results. “But it’s all about efficiencies and making sure those mines generate returns.”

Shares in Centamin jumped almost 2.56% in early trading in Toronto to Cdn$2.82, and were up 1.9% to 162.2 p in London mid-afternoon.

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Avec Polaris, Microsoft prépare une version allégée de Windows 10

Microsoft travaille sur une mouture simplifiée de Windows 10 appelée « Polaris ». Celle-ci s'inscrit dans le projet « Windows Core OS », qui consiste à faire de Windows 10 un OS modulaire, capable de s’adapter à différents terminaux existants et à venir.

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These are top-10 global mining trends expected for 2018

To thrive in the mining industry’s historical boom and bust cycle and capitalize on new opportunities, companies must rethink the traditional mining model. (Image: PlusONE| Shutterstock.)

In the last 10 years, the mining industry has been on a roller-coaster, with commodity prices reaching both historic highs and lows, and operational realities shifting irrevocably in the face of a digital revolution. And companies better fasten their seat belts as those rapid changes are likely to continue and even accelerate this year, a study released by Deloitte on Wednesday says.

Phil Hopwood, Global Mining Leader at Deloitte and author of “Tracking the Trends” annual mining report, now in its 10th edition, told MINING.com that as several commodities appear to be at the onset of a bull run for the next 10 years, the sector will have to continue its transition to the digital mine of the future and anticipate future disruptors, including declining ore body grades, decreasing availability of tier one assets, and continued focus on shareholder returns.

Turning disruption into opportunity requires a long-term view capable of assessing how emerging market trends may affect the demand for specific commodities.

But turning disruption into opportunity requires a long-term view capable of assessing how emerging market trends may affect the demand for specific commodities, he says.

“Looking back just 20 years, it’d have been hard to believe that nickel, lithium, cobalt and graphite would be an affordable way to power batteries,” says Hopwood. “Today that is the reality and a potential growth opportunity, particularly with the emergence of electric vehicles.”

Asked whether the impressive gains in commodity and equity prices around the world in the lithium, cobalt and other “battery-making” metals sectors are a trend or just investment hype, Hopwood is quick to note that most new commodities result in an initial “plug”.

“There is no doubt excitement around those commodities. They are the key ingredients in batteries — and energy sources of the future – but I don’t think the hype around needing better quality nickel is 'hype' at all; it’s integral. Laterite nickel pig iron (NPI) is simply not as good as nickel sulfide for use in batteries; but of course it’s the cheaper option. The problem is, you can’t substitute for good quality nickel and expect quality results,” he says.

The same goes for lithium, Hopwood adds. “The bottom line is that we need to focus on is the fundamentals and ask more pressing questions, like how to get the resources out of the ground effectively to meet supply.”

Source: Deloitte.

To thrive in the mining industry’s historical boom and bust cycle and capitalize on new opportunities, he says, companies must rethink the traditional mining model.

“I see mining really making changes in terms of adopting digital technology and innovative thinking – though still at an early stage for some.”

He notes that some big names in the industry, such as BHP, are really focusing on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. As revealed in Deloitte Canada’s recent report on Inclusion – inclusive companies deliver better financial results.

Mining companies are also moving to being more visible and transparent in their reporting, Hopwood says.

“They are out there talking about the work they do with communities and their commitments. They are publishing papers and trying to improve their reputation(s) by publishing POVs and reports on where the industry should be heading. They now understand that they have a responsibility to play an integral role in the “image” of mining,” he notes.

While there is still more that can be done, the expert believes the wheels are in motion and that the industry is moving in the right direction.

You can download the full report here.

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Sclérose en plaques : les hommes moins à risque grâce à la testostérone

Des chercheurs ont identifié un mécanisme expliquant que les hommes soient moins touchés que les femmes par la sclérose en plaques (SEP) : chez la souris, la testostérone stimule la cytokine IL-33, qui protège de la SEP. Cette molécule offre donc une piste de traitement pour les femmes souffrant...

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Superlune bleue de sang et éclipse : ce que vous allez vraiment voir

La Pleine Lune de ce 31 janvier est qualifiée de « superlune bleue de sang ». Mais que se cache-t-il derrière ces termes intrigants ? Verrons-nous une « Lune bleue » ? Pourquoi l’appeler « Lune bleue de sang » ?

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La Lune en 5 mythes et croyances qui ont la vie dure

C’est la Pleine Lune, qui, ce soir, est « super » et même « bleue de sang ». Nos articles ont clairement expliqué que notre satellite est seulement un peu plus gros et un peu plus brillant (ce qui est une bonne occasion d’en admirer la lumière) mais que sa couleur ne changera pas. Décidément, la...

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Bidders for $500m Canada streaming deal as cobalt price surges–report

Cobalt prices have been one of the main beneficiaries of the scramble for battery materials by auto manufacturers.

The metal quoted on the LME recently topped $80,000 a tonne, a gain of 140% since the beginning of last year. Measured from its record low hit in February 2016, the metal is more than $50,000 more expensive.

Negotiating a price for a streaming deal could be complicated by the limited size of the overall market

Annual production of the raw material is only around 100,000 tonnes with the bulk coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where fears about political instability and the challenges of ethical sourcing combine to supercharge supply concerns.

The supply picture is further complicated as nearly all cobalt produced globally is as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining which slows down project development and supply growth despite unprecedented demand.

Reuters reports Tuesday Vale has hired Canada’s Bank of Montreal to raise around $500m from bidders for cobalt that will be produced at the Brazilian giant's Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in eastern Canada, citing four sources. Vale is extending the nickel mine underground to extend the life of the mine to 2035, but depressed nickel prices have slowed development.

Such a streaming deal – making an upfront payment in exchange for future production – is common on precious metals markets but would be the first of its kind for cobalt.

Negotiating a price for a streaming deal could be complicated by the limited size of the overall market. The Voisey's Bay deal would only be for around 3,000 tonnes of cobalt per year according to the Reuters report.

“No one has done a cobalt streaming deal before and how you price it, given that it is not a liquid market, is very difficult,” the source said.

“But because cobalt is in short supply and there’s a squeeze in anticipation of a surge in demand for electric vehicles, then you’ll get interest.”

No shortage of interest

In December luxury vehicle maker BMW said its needs for car-battery raw materials such as cobalt and lithium will grow 10-fold by 2025 and that it had been surprised at just how quickly demand is accelerating. Automakers including world number two Volkswagen have been scrambling to secure long term supply contracts, with little success.

Apart from automakers and battery manufacturers other players could be bidders for a deal with Vale.

Top cobalt miner Glencore (LON:GLEN) and Canada's third largest pension fund launched a base metals royalty firm named BaseCore Metals in December while precious metals streaming companies such as Wheaton Precious Metals and Franco Nevada may also be interested in diversifying.

Canada's Cobalt 27 Capital has been successful in raising additional funds to build its cobalt stockpiles since listing in June last year providing “a way for investors to speculate on the price of cobalt, plain and simple” according to the Toronto-based company's CEO.

Luxury vehicle maker BMW said its needs for car-battery raw materials such as cobalt and lithium will grow 10-fold by 2025Apart from stockpiles Cobalt 27 also has options on early stage cobalt projects in Canada and elsewhere, but Cobalt 27 CEO Anthony Milewski recently told MINING.com the company's next deal would probably for a producing asset.

According to S&P Global today six of the top 10 cobalt mines are in the DRC. Due primarily to Chinese investment by 2022 the central African nation will host the nine largest cobalt producers. China also dominates cobalt metal refining and the country's production of cobalt chemicals now constitutes 80% of global output.

Glencore in December announced it's restarting production at its Katanga copper and cobalt mine in the DRC which would double its production to 60,000 tonnes in 2019.

Glencore in December commissioned a study to measure the impact of the booming EV and energy storage market would have on mining.

Based on an EV market share of less than 32% in 2030, forecast metal requirements are roughly 4.1m tonnes of additional copper (18% of 2016 supply). The move away from gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles would need 56% more nickel production or 1.1m tonnes compared to 2016 and cobalt supply would have to triple to 314,000 tonnes.

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Shares in Vancouver vanadium junior tanks after securities probe

Shares in Vanadiumcorp Resource Inc (CVE:VRB) slumped Tuesday after the company announced the preliminary economic assessment for its flagship Lac Doré project in Quebec is being reviewed by regulators.

During lunchtime trade the Vancouver-based junior was exchanging hands for $0.14, down just shy of 10 % on the TSX Venture Exchange, in higher than usual volumes. The microcap is now worth $32.5 million after a 32% year to date gain.

The vanadium price has soared more than 130% in the past year, outperforming better-known battery components like cobalt, lithium and nickel

In a statement Vanadiumcorp said the Lac Doré PEA filed on SEDAR on December 28th, 2017 is currently under review by the British Columbia Securities Commission "to clarify disclosure pertaining to qualified persons and market data.":

"As such, the current economic analysis and mineral resources are not supported by a compliant NI 43-101 technical report, contrary to NI 43-101, and that the estimates should not be relied on until they have been verified and supported by a technical report."

Vanadiumcorp said it will amend and refile the PEA for the 100%-owned project once it receives further clarification.

According to the company's website the Lac Doré project spans over 45 square km and is close to the mining center of Chibougamau in Quebec.

The current NI 43-101 vanadium resource measures 621 Million LBs V2O5 from VTM concentrate grading 1.08% V2O5. Mineralization surface that is open at depth and along strike with nearby infrastructure such as road, rail, 161Kv power, workforce, water and a local airport. T

The project is adjacent to mineral claims fully permitted for mineral extraction owned by Blackrock Metals which is also targeting VTM concentration on site according to Vanadiumcorp.

Vanadium price vaults

The vanadium price has soared more than 130% in the past year, outperforming better-known battery components like cobalt, lithium and nickel.

What's driving prices is tightening supply and strong orders from the steel industry, which accounts for 90% of demand today.

But in the future, analysts are expecting a shift in uses of vanadium. The metal can also be used in industrial-scale batteries, which help to even out daily peaks and troughs from renewables like wind energy.

Currently, the dominant form of energy storage is lithium-ion technology, but there are advantages to vanadium-flow batteries. They last longer and can be charged and discharged repeatedly without any significant drop in performance. They are also easy to recycle and good for projects where space isn't an issue.

(Bloomberg contributed to this article)

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Cigarette électronique : un risque de cancers et de maladies cardiaques

Même si le vapotage semble moins dangereux que le tabagisme, la cigarette électronique favorise des dommages aux cellules du poumon, de la vessie et du cœur. C’est ce que suggère une étude effectuée sur des souris et des cellules humaines en laboratoire.

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Wood Mackenzie cuts iron ore price outlook as markets fall again

Despite beginning the year in good shape, the global iron ore industry is starting to experience a fresh drop in prices that has analysts trying to decide whether this is the start of a deeper downtrend or a pull-back.

According to the Metal Bulletin, the price for benchmark 62% fines slipped Tuesday below $73 per tonne, down $1.36 per tonne month-to-date average.

Chinese iron ore futures ticked higher, but kept near one-month lows on Tuesday, as ample supply of the steelmaking raw material countered transport disruptions caused by heavy snow in the country.

Experts at UK-based research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie say whether the current reverse becomes a rout or not, iron ore’s near future is not looking good. As a result, the consultancy has dropped its price forecast for seaborne to $63 a tonne or 12% below last year's average of $71 per tonne.

In a note Tuesday, they warn that, as 2017 was full of positive "surprises," 2018 could bring a few too. So far, they add, risk to the consultancy’s 2018 forecast for Chinese steel and seaborne iron ore is on the upside and they name five trends to keep an eye on this year.

1. China’s environmental policy:

Beijing's increasingly stringent environmental policy was a big story in 2017 and will remain a key driver of the market in 2018, they said in a note Tuesday, adding they expect China's environmental scrutiny to tighten.

Wood Mackenzie says the new emission license and environmental tax law that came into force this month will put further pressure on steel mills to fully comply. While hot metal and steel production constraints continue, the researchers note, steel margins will remain strong and plant operators will continue to chase productivity.

“Ultimately it all depends on demand our base case view is for stable consumption with restocking ahead of environmental closures. This should support iron ore demand and prices with a continuing preference for high-grade ores,” Wood Mackenzie says.

2. Steel restructuring – shutdowns and swaps

China's long running steel restructuring program slowed down last year. Wood Mackenzie believes a key uncertainty that will weigh on prices is the extent to which steel intensive infrastructure investment can offset slower growth in other sectors.

The consultancy believes restrictions on local government project financing will add to the challenges facing the Chinese steel sector in 2018 and it predicts little if any volume growth this year.

3. Supply side response

2017 was the year when iron ore's transition towards a two-tier pricing structure became firmly entrenched. For 2018 Wood Mackenzie expects price spreads to widen further, though some of the world’s top iron ore producers have already begin taking measures to avoid the imminent impact of increasing discounts in revenue.

4. Investment revival

Investment in the iron ore industry has plummeted since 2012. From a peak of almost $50 billion in 2012, we estimate total capex at $13 billion last year. But the experts at Wood Mackenzie believe 2018 may see that trend reverse, as Australian majors need to replace several depleting mines by early next decade, and the need for increased automation to reduce costs, among other factors.

5. Tightening industry structure

Vale, BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Mining Group, alias “The Big Four,” increased their collective share of global exports from 62% in 2013 to 70% last year and it’s forecast at 72% in 2018.

Wood Mackenzie says an even more consolidated industry is likely as supply rises and prices come under pressure.

The analysts at Wood Mackenzie are not alone. Earlier this month, the Australian government itself said it expected a 20% decline in iron ore prices this year, hurt by rising global supply and cooling demand from China. However, most private forecasts expect the price to remain largely flat.

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Rio Tinto autonomous trucks now hauling a quarter of Pilbara material

Mining giant Rio Tinto’s (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) driverless trucks fleet has achieved a major milestone as it moved its one-billionth tonne of material in Western Australia's Pilbara region last month, the company said.

The figure corresponds to roughly 25% of both ore and waste material hauled last year across the company’s five sites in the Pilbara region, including the newly commissioned Silvergrass mine.

Since beginning trial operations in 2008, there have been zero injuries attributed to haul trucks equipped with autonomous haulage system (AHS), which highlights the technology’s significant safety advantages, Rio Tinto said.

Driverless trucks have also proven to be more efficient than their manned counterparts, the company said, with autonomous vehicles operating 700 hours longer last year and with 15% lower unit costs.

Rio says more than 80 autonomous Komatsu trucks are currently operating and the miner plans increasing the number to more than 140 by the end of 2019.

“We are studying future additions to our autonomous truck fleet that we expect will contribute to our $5 billion productivity program, specifically Iron Ore’s commitment to deliver $500 million of additional free cash flow from 2021 onwards,” Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said in the statement.

In December, the company approved retrofit programs to add autonomous technology to 48 existing Komatsu and Caterpillar haul trucks over the next two years.

About 20% of Rio Tinto's existing fleet of almost 400 haul trucks in the Pilbara is autonomous and, following the completion of the retrofit projects autonomous trucks, this will rise to about 30% of the fleet, the miner said.

Rio has worked with Komatsu for 20 years. In September 2017, they deployed the world's first retrofitted autonomous haul truck at the company’s Hope Downs 4 operation.

A supervisory system and a central controller, rather than a driver operates autonomous haul trucks. They use pre-defined GPS courses to automatically navigate haul roads and intersections and to know actual locations, speeds and directions of other vehicles at all times.

Rio has also announced plans to have a network of driverless trains in Western Australia. In October, it completed its first long-haul journey with a completely autonomous locomotive.

Getting to this point hasn’t not easy. The actual commissioning of the autonomous trains project has been put off a few times, partly due to software problems.

Delays with the implementation of autonomous iron ore trains hurt Rio Tinto’s output in 2016. The miner ended up producing 330 million tonnes, down from the original target of 350 million tonnes.

The so-called Autohaul plan is part of the “Mine of the Future” project the company launched in 2008, which also included the introduction of automated drilling and the roll out of an operations centre near Perth airport.

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SpaceX va faire décoller le Falcon Heavy, le lanceur le plus puissant au monde

Le Falcon Heavy de SpaceX réalisera son vol inaugural le 6 février. Si le lanceur le plus puissant au monde n'explose pas au décollage, ou après, et que la récupération de l'étage principal réussit, le pari sera gagné pour Elon Musk, fondateur et PDG de SpaceX.

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Le futur réacteur nucléaire EPR de Flamanville réussit les essais à froid

Le réacteur EPR de Flamanville devrait être mis en service à la fin de l’année ou début 2019. Les essais dits « à froid » ont donné satisfaction et seront suivis de nouveaux tests cet été. Cette technologie à eau pressurisée, conçue pour améliorer la sécurité et la puissance, est sur...

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Cet astéroïde d'environ 1 km va passer près de la Terre le 4 février

Découvert il y a seize ans, 2002 AJ129 est un astéroïde potentiellement dangereux de la taille d’un gratte-ciel. Le 4 février, il passera à quelque 4,2 millions de kilomètres au-dessus de nos têtes.

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Césarienne : plus de risque d'obésité et d'asthme pour l'enfant

Des chercheurs de l’université d’Edimbourg ont passé en revue les données de 80 études, correspondant à 29 millions de naissances. Ils montrent que la césarienne accroît le risque d’asthme et d’obésité chez l’enfant et de complications lors d’une grossesse ultérieure pour la mère.

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Marée noire en mer de Chine : un désastre d’un nouveau genre

Il y a quelques jours, un pétrolier a fait naufrage au large de la Chine, déversant en mer, toute sa cargaison de pétrole. Une nouvelle marée noire ? Pas vraiment, affirment les spécialistes. Car le pétrole libéré cette fois est volatil. Il n'en est probablement pas moins toxique. Mais des...

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CHART: Hedge funds have never been this bullish about oil

Better prospects for crude oil is nowhere more evident than on derivatives markets and the shift in positioning of large-scale derivatives speculators such as hedge funds.

Hedge funds have pushed long positions – bets on higher prices in future – to all-time record levels across five energy markets including US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude, Brent international oil futures, and US gasoline and diesel fuel.

Source: Bloomberg

According to the CFTC's weekly Commitment of Traders data up to January 23  so-called managed money investors on Nymex in New York and ICE Futures in Europe now hold the equivalent of more than 1 billion barrels of oil on a net basis. That compares to lows of just over 200m barrels in 2014 and similar dips in 2015 and the start of 2016.

WTI and Brent have added roughly $25 a barrel from lows struck in June last year with Brent, which usually trades at a premium to the US benchmark, recently topping $70 a barrel for the first time in more than three years.

Ole Hansen, chief commodity strategist at Saxo Bank, says that so far calls for a crude oil correction have been left unheard "despite the increased risk of such a one-sided position":

The fact however remains that funds will continue to buy into strength until the music stops. This past week gave the bulls no cause for concern as the dollar weakened, worldwide growth was cheered in Davos and US crude stocks continued to decline.

Source: TradingFloor.com

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Anglo American exits South African coal with sale of New Largo mine

Anglo American (LON:AAL) has officially left the coal sector in South Africa with the sale of its New Largo mine to a group of black-controlled companies.

Seriti Resources Pty Ltd., Coalzar Pty Ltd. and South Africa’s Industrial Development are paying Corp. are paying $71 million for the asset, Anglo said in the statement.

Last year, Anglo sold other coal assets that exclusively supplied South Africa’s power utility Eskom, including New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel collieries.

The operation, in the eastern province of Mpumalanga, has an estimated 585 million tonnes of coal below ground, most of it earmarked to supply state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s biggest coal buyer and provider of almost all of the nation’s power.

The energy giant has said it wants suppliers to be black-controlled, as South Africa pushes companies to boost black involvement in the economy to make up for discrimination during apartheid.

Partly because of that pressure, Anglo has been selling coal assets that exclusively supply to Eskom, including New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel collieries. Those assets were acquired last year by Seriti, which is led by Mike Teke, chairman of South Africa’s Chamber of Mines.

Thanks to the massive assets sale kicked off in 2016, Anglo — which was founded in South Africa in 1917 — came out in good shape from the recent and sharp rout in metal prices that hurt the mining industry since late 2015 until early 2017.

Last year, the company not only posted its first annual net profit in five years, but chief executive Mark Cutifani has also announced there was no need to offload any more assets, even some iron ore, and nickel operations he had previously declared non-core.

Cutifani, however, continued trying to reduce Anglo’s exposure to both thermal coal and South Africa, as the country recently approved a new mining charter, which imposes new taxes and ownership requirements.

New Largo’s deal is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the second half of 2018.

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Ariane 5 : pourquoi les satellites n'ont-ils pas été lancés au bon endroit ?

Même si le dernier lancement d'Ariane 5 ne s'est pas déroulé comme prévu, ce n'est pas un échec puisque les satellites rejoindront bien leur position nominale. Le lanceur a correctement suivi son programme de vol mais ce dernier, ainsi que que les centrales à inertielles, sont vraisemblablement...

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Le mystérieux manuscrit de Voynich enfin décodé par une IA ?

Deux informaticiens pensent être parvenus à identifier la langue du manuscrit de Voynich, un texte rédigé au XVe siècle et qui était jusqu'ici impénétrable. Pour cela, ils se sont aidés d’une série d’algorithmes et du service Google Traduction.

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Petra Diamonds shares crash on profit and output forecast cuts

Shares in Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) fell as much as 21% on Monday after the miner cut its forecast for 2018 earnings and said it will produce fewer precious stones as it focuses on recovering larger, more expensive rocks.

The South African diamond producer, owner of the iconic Cullinan mine, which produced the diamonds for the British crown jewels, said it expected its 2018 fiscal year earnings to be 10% to 15% per below consensus due to a stronger South African rand, which increases its US dollar costs.

Diamonds, like most commodities, are priced in US dollars, meaning that Petra makes less from its sales when converted into its local currency.

The company, which is currently at peak debt levels of roughly $645 million, said net debt is expected to fall to between $560 and $600 million by June 30. It also noted it had begun formal discussions with its lenders to evaluate the covenants.

The company also cut its forecast for diamond production, expecting to now produce between 4.6-4.7 million carats (mcts), below its previous forecast of 4.8-5.0 mcts, primarily due to lower grade diamonds from its Cullinan mine.

“Petra’s stated strategy is to focus on value as opposed to volume production, which is particularly pertinent to diamond operations, as not all carats are of equal value,” the company’s chief executive, Johan Dippenaar, said in the statement.

Petra, which Tanzania accused last year of under-declaring the value of its diamonds, is caught up in an industry-wide crackdown by the East African nation’s government in an effort to reap more revenue from its minerals. Petra has denied those accusations.

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Le radon, principale cause du cancer du poumon après le tabagisme

Méconnu du grand public, le radon est un gaz radioactif, inodore et incolore, qui favorise le cancer du poumon. Il serait responsable de 1.200 à 3.000 décès par an en France. Des campagnes d’information visent à sensibiliser la population vis-à-vis de ce risque dans leur habitation.

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Canada’s Fort Hills oil sands project delivers first bitumen

Suncor Energy (TSX:SU), Canada's second-largest energy producer, announced Monday its majority-owned Fort Hills oil sands project in Alberta had achieved first oil over the weekend.

The operation is 90 km north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and has a capacity of roughly 194,000 barrels per day.

Production at Fort Hills — located 90 km north of Fort McMurray — will ramp up over the next months to reach 90% of capacity by the end of the year, said the Calgary-based company, which is also the project operator. Canada's largest diversified miner Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A and TECK.B)(NYSE: TECK) and Total Canada also hold stakes in Fort Hills — 20.89% and 26.05% respectively.

The project has already completed five test runs of the front end of the plant, producing 1.4 million barrels of froth. The output was trucked to Suncor’s base plant for further processing, Teck said.

The second and third trains of secondary extraction are being insulated and are expected to start up in the first half of 2018, as planned.

Once ramp-up operations are complete, the asset is expected to achieve almost full capacity or 194,000 barrels per day.

At peak construction, Fort Hills employed an average of 7,900 people. Now in operation, it counts with about 1,400 employees.

The start-up comes as increasing oil sands supply outpaces Canadian pipeline capacity, contributing to a deepening price discount for Canadian heavy crude compared to benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI).

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Le moteur Vulcain d'Ariane 6 testé au sol

Le moteur Vulcain 2.1 qui propulsera l'étage principal d'Ariane 6 a volé. Mais au sol, sur un banc d'essai de façon à le tester dans tout son domaine de fonctionnement en vol. Ce test, qui ne sera pas le dernier, s'est bien déroulé nous explique Philippe Girard, responsable de la propulsion...

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Ariane 5 : une mission pas si ratée que cela

Même si le dernier lancement d'Ariane 5 ne s'est pas déroulé comme prévu, ce n'est pas un échec puisque les satellites rejoindront bien leur position nominale. Le lanceur a correctement suivi son programme de vol mais ce dernier, ainsi que que les centrales à inertielles, sont vraisemblablement...

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Le plus vieux fossile d'Homo sapiens découvert hors d'Afrique

La découverte d'un fragment de mâchoire fossile en Israël repousse d’au moins 50.000 ans la date à laquelle les hommes modernes seraient partis d'Afrique. Ces travaux nous renseignent aussi sur les croisements entre Homo sapiens et d’autres espèces humaines au Proche-Orient.

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Kilopower, la centrale nucléaire de la Nasa pour les futurs colons de Mars

Pas d’exploration spatiale sans sources d’énergie efficace et fiable. À l’aube de l’arrivée de l’Homme sur Mars et de son retour sur et autour de la Lune, la Nasa développe Kilopower, un petit réacteur nucléaire très prometteur, qui sera très utile pour les engins spatiaux et les installations...

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The preferred mining addresses for Toronto and Vancouver miners

Story developed using data from Mining Intelligence. Learn more and schedule a demo.

Most Toronto-based miners have addresses on Bay Street while Vancouver miners are evenly split between Hastings and Pender streets.

Despite the commodity price shake out in 2015 and 2016, miners have mostly hung onto their downtown addresses.

"The mining sector occupies a large footprint in office and commercial space in downtown Vancouver, close to their financing and legal partners," says Anne McMullin, President and CEO of the Urban Development Institute.

Data is based on Mining Intelligence's list of publicly-traded and active mining company headquarters for businesses based in either Vancouver or Toronto. In the fall, MINING.com declared Vancouver and Toronto the world's top mining cities. Vancouver has just over 800 listed and active mining companies while Toronto has about 300. Data was compiled in August 2017.

Word cloud lists top seven addresses in Vancouver where miners and explorers are located.

Nearly a third of Toronto's 330 mining companies have a Bay Street address, followed up by Adelaide Street.

Word cloud lists top seven addresses in Toronto where miners and explorers are located.

---

Sign up for Mining Intelligence and get rich insights about miners, juniors and projects. Our online tool puts rich data at your fingertips.

 

 

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Sommeil : les enfants dorment un peu moins les nuits de pleine lune

Les enfants ne sont pas plus actifs à la pleine Lune qu'à la nouvelle Lune. Cependant, d'après une étude portant sur plus de 5.800 enfants vivant dans différents pays du monde, ils dormiraient cinq minutes de moins les nuits de pleine lune.

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Pour éviter les inondations, il faut donner de l'espace aux fleuves

En cette fin du mois de janvier 2018, une quinzaine de départements sont placés en vigilance orange pour les crues et inondations. La Seine pourrait atteindre un niveau proche de celui de la crue de juin 2016 et de nombreuses rivières sont sorties de leur lit. Les inondations, qui causent de...

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Science décalée : le secret des alligators pour survivre au froid

L’instinct de survie, il paraît que nous l’avons tous. Mais certains peut-être un peu plus que d’autres. Et lorsque les éléments se liguent contre eux, ceux-ci n’hésitent pas à faire preuve d’imagination. Comme les alligators du Shallotte River Swap Park. De véritables « survival machines » !

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Quand Arianespace commandait 18 lanceurs Ariane 5

Le lancement d'une Ariane 5, lors du tir VA241 le 25 janvier 2018, a connu un problème, qui n'a cependant pas empêché les deux satellites emportés de suivre leur orbite de transfert vers leur destination finale (l'orbite géostationnaire). Le programme Ariane 5, dans ses différentes versions,...

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Quand Arianespace commandait 18 lanceurs Ariane 5 ECA de plus à Astrium

Le lancement d'une Ariane 5, lors du tir VA241 le 25 janvier 2018, a connu un problème, qui n'a cependant pas empêché les deux satellites emportés de suivre leur orbite de transfert vers leur destination finale (l'orbite géostationnaire). Le programme Ariane 5, dans ses différentes versions,...

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World's only gold cast of Mandela's hand could fetch up to $13 million

A South African businessman now living in Canada wants to sell a unique collection of solid gold items intimately associated to Nelson Mandela, including the world's only gold cast hand belonging to the anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader, who died in 2013.

Malcolm Duncan worked alongside Madiba opening a breast cancer clinic back in 2000. He confesses that, while he didn’t like Mandela at first, his passion and honesty ended not only winning him over, but also triggering a deep admiration towards the man who later became South Africa’s first black President.

Mandela sat for hours to get the impressions done. His only condition was that whatever the price of the gold hand’s weight was, the buyer should match it and give it to a charity. (Image: Malcolm Duncan.)

So, when Mandela's private secretary, Mary Mxadana, told Duncan in 2003 that mining company Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) (JSE:HAR) was selling solid gold casts of the leader’s hand, with half of the proceeds going to Mandela's Children's Foundation, he jumped at the chance.

Duncan told MINING.com Harmony planned to make 27 sets, one for each year Mandela was in prison, but he chose to buy what he considered the most important sets: the 1990, which is the year Mandela was released; and the 1964 set, corresponding to the last year of the Rivonia trial, which led to his imprisonment of the politician.

Mandela's clenched fist — a symbol of solidarity and support. (Image: Malcolm Duncan.)

Duncan said he paid about $360,000 back then for the pieces, with half of the sum supposed to be given to the Mandela children's fund. But that never happened.

He said he only learned about it years later, when he decided to sell Mandela's hand along with the rest of his memorabilia collection and use the proceeds to set a vehicle parts factory in Calgary, where he lives now.

Image: Malcolm Duncan.

The mystery of the missing money thwarted the intended sale. And that was not the only reason. Duncan also discovered that a "certificate of authenticity" in the form of a metal plaque supplied by Harmony Gold, contained a clear inaccuracy.

It stated the casting had been authorized by art publisher Ross Calder in his capacity as trustee of the Nelson Mandela Trust, something that Calder himself clarified later it wasn’t the case, as he only was the one who proposed the idea to Madiba.

Image: Malcolm Duncan.

Once that was cleared out and after months of talks between Duncan’s lawyers and Harmony Gold, he finally was given a fresh paper certificate of authenticity for his collection. He also learned then that the company had destroyed all the remaining castings, as instructed shortly afterwards Mandela had a fallout with his lawyer, Ismael Ayob.

That made of Duncan the owner of the world’s only original gold castings of Mandela's hand.

The artifacts were made using around 20 pounds of gold and the value of the metal alone is estimated to the worth $870,000 at current prices. Duncan estimates they are worth up to $13 million, but he expects to get between $6 and $10 million for the unique collection, which he hopes is acquired by a museum, art gallery or anyone who respects Mandela's legacy.

*  Note: Emails sent by MINING.com to Harmony Gold inquiring about the proceeds of the gold hand's sale, intended to be delivered to a charity, had not been answered by the time this story was posted.

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Les fourmis construisent des radeaux en cas d'inondations

En ce début 2018, la France est sous l'eau. Et les inondations causent des dégâts. Dans les médias, les conseils pour y échapper se multiplient. L'occasion de revenir sur la stratégie adoptée par les fourmis. Lors d’une inondation en effet, ces petites bêtes s'associent pour former un «...

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Anglo's Brazil iron ore expansion a go

Anglo American on Friday received long-awaited environmental permits that pave the way for the world's number four diversified miner to expand its Minas-Rio iron ore mine in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Reuters reports state environmental regulator Semad granted a pre-installation and installation permit to Anglo, which would boost output capacity by about 56%, once the miner receives an additional operating permit.

Anglo, which has already been granted permission for a second phase at Minas Rio, has been trying for months to secure the construction and environmental licence for the mine’s third and last expansion, but has faced several roadblocks along the way.

The company earlier warned it would have to close down the operation in September this year because, without that extension, Minas Rio would run out of ore.

Ruben Fernandes, president of Anglo American Brazil, said last week that receiving the necessary licences would allow the company to continue operating in the region for at least another 15 years.

The century-old company has long said the third phase is critical for Minas Rio to reach its full capacity of 26.5 million tonnes of iron ore a year by 2019.

Together with increasing the current pit's size, the project is expected to generate 800 new jobs during construction, adding to the more than 4,500 positions the project has already created.

Benchmark Northern China import prices for 62% Fe ore was pegged at $74.60 a tonne on Friday, down from a 2018 peak just shy of $80 a tonne reached two weeks ago.

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Rio Tinto lifts force majeure at Kennecott copper mine

World’s second largest mining company Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) has lifted force majeure on shipments of refined copper from its Kennecott unit in the U.S., 79 days after adopting the measure.

The company halted production of refined copper at its smelter at the Utah-based mine on Oct. 8 after a worker was exposed to sulphur dioxide gases at the plant while removing debris from a boiler. The employee died two days later.

Rio Tinto Kennecott accounts for nearly 20% of the U.S. total copper production, and its iconic Bingham Canyon mine is one of the world’s top producing operations.

Visible from outer space, the Bingham Canyon is the also world’s deepest open-pit mine. First discovered by Mormon pioneers in the mid-1800s, it is over 1.2 km deep, 4 km wide and covers 7.7 km².

A massive slide at the mine almost five years ago slowed, but did not stop, Rio’s plans to extend the mine’s life by another decade, to 2029. The company believes there’s still as much ore in the ground as miners have taken out of Bingham Canyon since it began production in 1906.

It is estimated that the mine has produced more copper than any mine in history – more than 19 million tonnes. Last year, the Kennecott generated 125,800 tonnes of refined copper, about 20% less than in 2016.

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Glencore in ‘hiring frenzy’ as it readies to restart Lady Loretta zinc mine in Australia

Swiss miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) has begun hiring for a number of new positions at its Lady Loretta zinc mine in Australia, which is slated to reopen in the first half of this year.

Production at the Queensland-based operation was halted in 2015 because of falling zinc prices. Since then, prices for the metal have more than doubled, so Glencore — the world’s No.1 zinc producer — announced in December it would resume mining at Lady Loretta.

According to Townsville Bulletin, the restart will create 250 jobs, including project and geotech engineers, maintenance managers, shift supervisors, mechanics and dozen other positions.

The reopening is planned in phases, with the mine expected to produce 100,000 tonnes of zinc this year and an additional 60,000 tonnes in 2019.

Lady Loretta only represents about a third of the production that Glencore suspended two years ago. In August, Glencore’s chief executive officer Ivan

Glasenberg said the company had about 500,000 metric tonnes of zinc capacity that would be restarted at “the right point in the cycle.”

Other than that imminent supply there is additional capacity coming online in the short term, including MMG's Dugald River project in Australia and Vedanta's Gamsberg mine in South Africa.

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Chrome 64 : l'autoplay des vidéos bloqué par Google

Chrome 64, la dernière version stable du navigateur de Google, introduit une fonction qui permet de bloquer le son d'une vidéo dont la lecture se lance automatiquement à l'ouverture d'une page Web. Une bonne nouvelle pour nos oreilles !

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2018 est l'Année du corail : découvrez les trésors menacés des récifs

IYOR 2018 : ce sigle est celui de l'Année internationale des récifs coralliens. En régression partout dans le monde, ces écosystèmes d'une importance capitale subissent le réchauffement des eaux de surface et les pollutions côtières. Il est grand temps de s'en préoccuper, comme l'explique ici...

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SolGold starts additional drilling at flagship project in Ecuador

Ecuador-focused miner SolGold (LON:SOLG) (TSX:SOLG) said Friday it had begun additional exploration drilling at its 85%-owned Cascabel copper-gold project, 180 km north of the country’s capital Quito.

The Australian gold miner noted said efforts are now focussed on targeting high-grade extensions to the Alpala resource. It also said that an additional 13,384 metres of drilling has been completed at the project located since the release of maiden resource estimate in early January.

The Cascabel project is located in the northern portion of the Andean copper belt in Ecuador, renowned for hosting almost half the world’s copper known reserves.

“The maiden resource is just the tip of the iceberg at Alpala,” the company’s CEO and Managing Director Nick Mather noted in the update. “We are looking to substantially increase it, and focussing on high grade expansion,” he said, adding he was confident the team would find “a deep, rich root at Alpala.”

SolGold’s Cascabel has been compared to Rio Tinto’s world class Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia and the results from hole 26 seem to indicate there is much more intense mineralization in the property than evident in previous drilling results.

It’s located in the northern portion of the Andean copper belt in Ecuador, renowned for hosting almost half the world’s copper known reserves.

Cascabel project location. (Courtesy of SolGold.)

The South American country has been gaining ground as a mining investment destination thanks to a revised regulatory framework and a major investor engagement campaign that has already attracted around 420 applications for concessions in less than a year.

Currently, the nation’s emerging mining sector employs 3,700 people, but the government estimates the figure will rise to about 16,000 in the 2017-2020 period.

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Ariane 5 : des satellites lancés mais pas au bon endroit

Cette nuit, le lanceur Ariane 5 a bien mis en orbite les deux satellites de télécommunications qu'il transportait. Mais un problème technique, qui n'a pas été précisé, a conduit à une mauvaise trajectoire.

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Images 3D : de Star Wars à la réalité, il n'y a plus qu'un pas

Des chercheurs veulent développer un système de production d'images en 3D façon Star Wars, s'inspirant de la projection de la princesse Leia qui apparaît dans la saga de science-fiction. Ils présentent aujourd’hui les premiers résultats de leur projet, qui sont encourageants.

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Vidéo 360° au cœur de la Voie lactée

Découvrez ce qui se passe au centre de notre Galaxie, la Voie lactée, là où est tapi le trou noir supermassif Sagittarius A*. Dans cette vidéo 360°, vous allez prendre sa place et ainsi pouvoir observer les étoiles qui s’affolent autour de lui. Des chercheurs ont réalisé deux simulations qui...

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Davos team propels gold price to 18-month high, Trump cuts it down

In morning trade on Thursday, gold jumped to its best level since August 2016  touching a high of $1,365.40 an ounce after comments from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland sent the dollar lower.

But the metal reversed course in the afternoon after US President Donald Trump told CNBC that Mnuchin’s comments had been misinterpreted:

“The dollar is going to get stronger and stronger and ultimately I want to see a strong dollar,” Trump said.

Towards the close of trading in New York, the most active futures contract on the Comex market had fallen back to $1,345 an ounce. Volumes were massive with just under 50m ounces of February delivery gold traded.

Gold and the US dollar usually move in opposite directions and the greenback has decline sharply against major currencies since Trump's inauguration. The euro has gained 15% against the US currency, the British poound more than 13% and the Canadian dollar nearly 8%.

Gold has gained more than $100 an ounce since mid-December. Large-scale speculators increase their exposure to gold on derivatives markets by doubling net long positions – bets that gold will be more expensive in future – in the space of three weeks to the equivalent of 20m ounces.

Retail and institutional investment in gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) also continues to grow.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg ETF vaults now hold around 2,250 tonnes, the most since May 2013, as investors piled in ahead of a US government shutdown.

 

 

Pictures of the year: U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin @stevenmnuchin1 and his wife, Louise Linton @LouiseLinton, hold a 2017 50 subject uncut sheet of $1 dollar notes bearing Mnuchin's name at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Source: https://t.co/dY1q8WBYzq pic.twitter.com/K66LMCOMaZ

— Juan Domenech (@juan_domenech) December 22, 2017

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Botswana Diamonds stock crashes on lack of enough gems at Thorny River

Shares in London-listed Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) were hit Thursday by the news that said sampling work at the company’s Thorny River project in South Africa had failed to produce enough diamonds for an economic modelled diamond valuation.

While chairman John Teeling said that further geological work would be conducted to determine the economic viability of the resource, the company’s stock dropped 11% to 1.25 pence.

Diamonds recovered during sampling at the project were not sufficient to produce a modelled diamond valuation, said the company.

Recent modelling work undertaken by consulting group Interlaced Consulting on a sample equivalent to 305.38 t of kimberlite and host rock, resulted in a total content grade range of 46 carats per hundred tons (cpht) to 74 cpht.

A total of 512 diamonds weighing 62.883 carats were recovered from the sample, and their valuation was undertaken by international diamantaire Ray Ferraris. It indicated the parcel average to be $89/ct in the +11-diamond sieve class, which compares favourably with the $77/ct achieved in the same diamond sieve class from a 2015 sampling campaign.

However, the miner said the diamonds recovered were not sufficient to produce a modelled diamond valuation, and thus the 2016 valuation of $259 per carat continues to apply.

Gem quality diamonds made up a third of the parcel, and the absence of large stones "is being investigated,” said the company, adding that the processed concentrates produced by the dense media separation (DMS) plant at Thorny River will also be subject to further work

Botswana, which was overtaken by Russia as the world’s top diamond producing country in 2014, is grappling with aging mines, as well as power and water shortages.

Besides diamonds, the nation also produces nickel, copper, coal and iron ore.

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Canada’s Gahcho Kue diamond mine boosts Anglo American output, but cooper flat

Global miner Anglo America (LON:AAL) saw its output climb 5% last year thanks mainly to its diamond and iron ore divisions, though copper production remained flat.

The company said output at its diamond unit, De Beers, climbed 22% compared with the previous year to 33.5 million carats, as its Gahcho Kué mine reached full production.

Gahcho Kué, Canada's newest diamond mine and the world’s largest in the last 13 years, is a joint venture between De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds (TSX:MPVD). It officially opened in September 2016, achieving commercial production last March.

The ramp-up of Anglo American’s Gahcho Kué mine in Canada increased the group’s diamond production by 22%

"The ramp-up of Gahcho Kué and Grosvenor mines made positive contributions to our production profile in 2017, and a strong performance from Sishen resulted in an eight percent increase in production from Kumba Iron Ore," chief executive Mark Cutifani said in a statement.

"The five percent increase for the full year reflects our ongoing focus on productivity and was achieved despite the removal of unprofitable and higher cost platinum and metallurgical coal volumes, consistent with our disciplined, value-led approach to production," he noted.

Copper production, however, increased marginally to 148,600 tonnes or 5%, even with Collahuasi mine in northern Chile achieving record production in the year.

Anglo’s Platinum and palladium, iron ore and coking coal output fell between 4% and 8% in the fourth quarter and were flat or higher for the full year.

On iron ore, the company said its focus remained on getting the necessary licences to kick off a third phase of production at its Minas Rio mine in Brazil. If it cannot get the permits, Anglo has said it will be forced to halt operations in September.

Edward Sterck, analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said that while production was on average slightly better than expected the company should “continue focusing on incremental improvements to drive productivity.”

For now, Anglo American is in the process selling its South African thermal coal mines — New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel — to the black-controlled Seriti Resources Holdings Ltd. for about 2.3 billion rand ($166 million), as it focuses on other commodities .

The closing of transaction, which is waiting on Eskom’s approval for the transfer of the coal sales agreement from Anglo to Seriti, is imminent, said the company.

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Ce petit bout de caoutchouc est un robot miniature !

En Allemagne, des chercheurs de l'Institut Max-Planck ont créé un étonnant robot de quelques millimètres qui se présente sous la forme d'un banal morceau de caoutchouc. Pourtant, il marche, saute, rampe, roule et nage. Un candidat idéal pour des missions médicales à l'intérieur d'un corps...

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Une synapse artificielle pour reproduire le fonctionnement des neurones !

Des chercheurs ont conçu une synapse artificielle. Ils ont pu contrôler avec précision la force du courant qui la traverse et ainsi reproduire de façon uniforme et stable le fonctionnement des neurones du cerveau humain. Une puce basée sur de telles synapses a démontré des performances déjà...

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Caterpillar beats estimates again, delivers bullish outlook for 2018

Shares in the world's largest mining and construction equipment maker Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) were up almost 4% in pre-market trading on Thursday after the company posted results that beat investors’ expectations.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based firm, which is considered a reliable bellwether of economic activity, reported positive overall results and delivered bullish projections for 2018, particularly in relation to its construction and mining-equipment divisions.

Revenues for 2017 reached $2.69 billion, an increase of $94 million, or 4%, compared with 2016. Profit was $586 million, a $202 million, or 53%, increase from 2016.

Caterpillar said it expected an adjusted profit of $8.25-$9.25 per share for 2018, compared with analysts' average estimate of $8.19 to $8.63.

While the company kicked off 2017 with a cautious message, booming sales triggered by improved Chinese demand and a recovering economy in the U.S. — Caterpillar’s home country —, forced it to lift 2017 revenue projections three times last year.

The company’s shares have risen more than 7% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 6%. In the last year, the stock has climbed 75% and it was up 3.87% in pre-market Thursday to $174.85 at 8:35AM ET.

 

More to come…

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Ariane 5 : le premier lancement de l'année, c'est ce soir

Ce soir, une Ariane 5 s’élancera depuis le Centre spatial guyanais de Kourou pour mettre en orbite deux satellites de télécommunications. Il s'agit du premier lancement de l'année pour Arianespace.

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Callisto, un démonstrateur de lanceur réutilisable à l'horizon 2020

Le Cnes, qui prépare les lanceurs du futur, l’après Ariane 6 en quelque sorte, ne veut pas faire l’impasse sur le réutilisable si finalement cette technologie était la bonne voie. Pour cela, le Cnes développe, avec les agences spatiales allemande et japonaise, Callisto, un démonstrateur de...

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La tectonique des plaques aurait favorisé la vie grâce à l'oxygène

Il y a 2,4 milliards d'années, la teneur en oxygène de l'atmosphère terrestre a brusquement et fortement augmenté. Une aubaine pour les organismes vivants qui ont su profiter de cette « grande oxydation » pour se complexifier. Mais d'où est venu ce gaz, longtemps resté rare ? Des...

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Les vents de cette exoplanète surprennent les astrophysiciens

Découverte par le satellite du Cnes Corot, une Jupiter chaude a été observée de plus près par le télescope spatial Spitzer. Surprise : les vents de Corot-2b ne soufflent pas dans la direction prédite par les modèles théoriques, ce qui rend perplexes les astrophysiciens.

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Zinc price will vault $4,000 within months – report

Zinc pulled back on Wednesday to below $3,400 a tonne, but stayed within shouting distance of the best levels since August 2007 as worries about global stocks of the metal, mainly used in galvanizing steel, continue to support prices.

In a research report consultants Wood Mackenzie said the combination of scheduled mine closures, top producer Glencore's strategic cuts and the impact of environmental inspections in China has depleted global stocks of concentrate.

According to the report global zinc stockpiles fell by a third in 2017 to 1.8 million tons, equivalent to 47 days of global usage. Exchange stocks halved from 500kt to 250kt (equivalent to just 6 days of global consumption) over the same period.

By the end of the second quarter, there will be less than 40 days’ of stock available for consumers; "a critically low level" according to the authors which should propel prices to $4,000 a tonne in the third quarter of this year.

However, says Woodmac, zinc has the potential to rally even further:

"As the rapid escalation of the price thus far in 2018 has demonstrated, there is a strong possibility that investor
enthusiasm will pre-empt the tightness in the refined market and the cyclical peak in the price could be higher and sooner than
our base case assumption of a Q1 2019 average of $4,100/t."

Zinc has more than doubled since hitting multi-year lows in January 2016 when top producer Glencore curtailed production to shore up prices.

In December, Glencore said it would restart its Lady Loretta mine in the first half of this year, but added that it still expects zinc output to decrease slightly in 2018 to a shade under 1.1 million tonnes. In 2019, Glencore sees its zinc output creeping back up to 1.16 million tonnes.

Overall global zinc supply is to increase with additional capacity coming online in Australia (MMG's Dugald River project) and South Africa (Vedanta's Gamsberg mine).

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Anglo expects expansion licence for Minas Rio in Brazil by Friday

Anglo American (LON:AAL) may no need to shut its massive Minas Rio in Brazil after all, since the company expects authorities for the state of Minas Gerais, where the iron ore operation is located, to issue the long-awaited permits this month.

According to O Petróleo (in Portuguese), the company said it was confident it would receive approval by Friday. It would, however, still need an operating licence from the state environmental agency to kick off operations.

Receiving the necessary licences would allow the company to continue operating in the state of Minas Gerais, where the iron ore mine is located, for at least another 15 years.

Anglo, which has already been granted permission for a second phase at Minas Rio, has been trying for months to secure the construction and environmental licence for the mine’s third and last expansion, but has faced several roadblocks along the way.

The company has warned it would have to close down the operation in September this year because, without that extension, Minas Rio would run out of ore.

Ruben Fernandes, president of Anglo American Brazil, said last week that receiving the necessary licences would allow the company to continue operating in the region for at least another 15 years.

The century-old company has long said the third phase is critical for Minas Rio to reach its full capacity of 26.5 million tonnes of iron ore a year by 2019.

Together with increasing the current pit's size, the project is expected to generate 800 new jobs during construction, adding to the more than 4,500 positions the project has already created.

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Vancouver junior surges 60% after Africa cobalt deal

Shares in M2 Cobalt Corp (CVE:MC) were off to the races on Wednesday after the company announced the acquisition of exploration licenses in east Africa and resumed trading in Toronto.

During lunchtime trade the Vancouver-based junior was exchanging hands for $1.00 up 61.3% after a halt on trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in place since November was lifted. Around 67,000 shares were traded giving M2 Cobalt a market value of $25m.

The company, which changed its name from Accend Capital in November, in a statement said it acquired seven exploration licenses in the Republic of Uganda spanning roughly 1,564 square kilometers. M2 Cobalt issued 19.7m common shares to the licence holders plush cash payments totaling $1.1m.

M2 Cobalt raised $8.5 million from investors at the beginning of the year to finance the purchase noting that "market interest in the offering was strong and greatly exceeded the company's minimum offering of $4m".

M2 Cobalt also announced management changes including a new director for its east Africa operations and said it's embarking on an extensive exploration program for cobalt and related minerals on the Bujagali and Kilembe properties to build upon historic work done in the region.

Supply worries

Cobalt prices went ballistic in 2017 with the metal quoted on the LME recently topping $80,000 a tonne after more than doubling over the past year.

The rally was sparked by intensifying supply fears and an expected demand spike from battery markets. Measured from its record low hit in February 2016, the metal is more than $50,000 more expensive.

Annual production of the raw material is only around 100,000 tonnes with the bulk coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where fears about political instability and the challenges of ethical sourcing combine to supercharge supply concerns.

According to S&P Global today six of the top 10 cobalt mines are in the DRC. Due primarily to Chinese investment by 2022 the central African nation will host the nine largest cobalt producers. Primary cobalt mines are scarce – more than 90% of global production is as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining.

Top cobalt miner Glencore in December announced it's restarting production at its Katanga copper and cobalt mine in the DRC and recently commissioned a study to measure the impact of the booming EV and energy storage market would have on mining.

Based on an EV market share of less than 32% in 2030, forecast metal requirements are roughly 4.1m tonnes of additional copper (18% of 2016 supply). The move away from gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles would need 56% more nickel production or 1.1m tonnes compared to 2016 and cobalt supply would have to triple to 314,000 tonnes.

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Antofagasta sees 2018 costs to reach $1bn on Pelambres expansion, equipment

Shares in Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc. (LON:ANTO) plummeted Wednesday after the company reported marked drops in gold and copper output during the last quarter of 2017, which weighted on full-year production.

Gold production fell to 212,400 ounces in 2017, a dramatic 21.6% decreased when compared to the previous year. In the fourth quarter alone, output of the precious metal reached 40,500 ounces, a 32.0% decrease when compared to the previous three months.

The miner said the numbers reflected lower grades and recoveries at its Centinela mine, in northern Chile.

Copper production in the fourth quarter of 2017 fell 1.3% to 177,800 tonnes compared to the previous quarter.
Higher production at Los Pelambres and the ramp-up of the Encuentro Oxides project offset lower production at Centinela Concentrates.

In the year, the firm produced 10,500 tonnes of molybdenum, which is used in steel alloys to increase strength, 47.9 per cent higher than the previous year due to higher grades.

Antofagasta shares dropped almost 2% to 948 p in early trading and were still lower than Tuesday close, near the end of the day (-1.16% to 953.60p).

The miner said it expected its 2018 costs to be higher, around $1 billion, including expenditure on the Los Pelambres expansion project, which will add 55,000 tonnes of copper a year once in full operation. It also expects costs to rise on concentration of mine equipment replacement and tailings dam expenditure.

For BMO metals and mining analyst, Edward Sterck, Antofagasta’s overall results were “a solid finish for the year.”

“As a large-scale copper producer, the company remains well placed to leverage the current copper prices with a minimum 35% dividend payout,” Sterck said in a note to investors.

“Given Antofagasta's history of special dividends, the market may be hoping for an improved payout given the strong copper price,” he added. The company’s dividend will be announced in March.

Chief executive, Iván Arriagada, was optimistic about the outlook for the year. He said new additions to the miner’s portfolio at Zaldívar, Antucoya and Encuentro Oxides now account for 25% of group production, which will continue to help offset declines at Antofagasta’s mature assets, providing it with a platform for growth as copper prices recover.

In the year ahead, production of the red metal is expected to be in the range of 705,000 to 740,000 tonnes, while gold output is seen between 190,000 and 210,000 ounces and molybdenum production is expected to be between 11,500 and 12,500 tonnes.

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