“Daily updated mining exploration news on gold”—–Zimbabwe’s largest gold mining exploration firm has stopped operations at its five mines across the country, resulting in 5,000 people losing their jobs and officials laying the blame squarely at the door of the Central Bank.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has recently come under severe scrutiny after international donor group, Global Fund, announced that more than US$7 million in donations had been diverted by the central bank for other purposes. The group suspended future grants to Zimbabwe until the money was repaid, a move which immediately saw the central bank come up with the millions that were repaid on Friday.
But the bank will now have to answer for the closure of Metallon Gold’s five mines, after officials said this week’s closure resulted from long delays receiving payments for gold delivered to the RBZ.
“We have no mine which is operating at the moment,” Metallon Gold’s CEO Collen Gura said on Thursday. “We cannot continue to produce when we are not getting paid, so there are no operations at any of our mines across the country.”
Metallon Gold, which produces 40 percent of the country’s gold output, is owned by South African mining mogul Mzi Khumalo. According to the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe’s gold production plunged by 61 percent in March, compared to February this year, while the country’s average monthly gold production has declined from more than two thousand kilograms in 1999 to a mere 267kgs this year. Gold has traditionally been one of Zimbabwe’s main foreign currency earners, but the mining sector has been crippled in recent months by power cuts, shortages of foreign currency and the exodus of experienced personnel.
At the same time Zimbabwe’s central bank apparently owes gold producers US$30 million, dating back to end of 2007.
“The failure by the RBZ to pay for gold delivered to it has decimated the entire gold industry,” the Chamber of Mines said in a statement released Thursday.
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe from the University of Zimbabwe on Friday said the country’s central bank “has a lot to answer for and be held accountable to.” Makumbe said the mine closures are a serious threat for the country’s future “not just because of the loss of jobs but also because of the devastating effect this will have on the already fragile economy.”
Makumbe also argued that the mine closures mean that rebuilding the country will take even longer, because of the time and money needed to reopen mines.
“The Mugabe regime can ignore the crisis as they are doing,” Makumbe said. “But at the end of the day it will be many years to come before Zimbabwe can be repaired.”
Showing posts with label mining news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mining news. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Zimbabwe: 5000 Lose Mining Jobs As RBZ Fails to Make Gold Payments
“Daily updated mining exploration news on gold”—–Zimbabwe’s largest gold mining exploration firm has stopped operations at its five mines across the country, resulting in 5,000 people losing their jobs and officials laying the blame squarely at the door of the Central Bank.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has recently come under severe scrutiny after international donor group, Global Fund, announced that more than US$7 million in donations had been diverted by the central bank for other purposes. The group suspended future grants to Zimbabwe until the money was repaid, a move which immediately saw the central bank come up with the millions that were repaid on Friday.
But the bank will now have to answer for the closure of Metallon Gold’s five mines, after officials said this week’s closure resulted from long delays receiving payments for gold delivered to the RBZ.
“We have no mine which is operating at the moment,” Metallon Gold’s CEO Collen Gura said on Thursday. “We cannot continue to produce when we are not getting paid, so there are no operations at any of our mines across the country.”
Metallon Gold, which produces 40 percent of the country’s gold output, is owned by South African mining mogul Mzi Khumalo. According to the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe’s gold production plunged by 61 percent in March, compared to February this year, while the country’s average monthly gold production has declined from more than two thousand kilograms in 1999 to a mere 267kgs this year. Gold has traditionally been one of Zimbabwe’s main foreign currency earners, but the mining sector has been crippled in recent months by power cuts, shortages of foreign currency and the exodus of experienced personnel.
At the same time Zimbabwe’s central bank apparently owes gold producers US$30 million, dating back to end of 2007.
“The failure by the RBZ to pay for gold delivered to it has decimated the entire gold industry,” the Chamber of Mines said in a statement released Thursday.
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe from the University of Zimbabwe on Friday said the country’s central bank “has a lot to answer for and be held accountable to.” Makumbe said the mine closures are a serious threat for the country’s future “not just because of the loss of jobs but also because of the devastating effect this will have on the already fragile economy.”
Makumbe also argued that the mine closures mean that rebuilding the country will take even longer, because of the time and money needed to reopen mines.
“The Mugabe regime can ignore the crisis as they are doing,” Makumbe said. “But at the end of the day it will be many years to come before Zimbabwe can be repaired.”
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has recently come under severe scrutiny after international donor group, Global Fund, announced that more than US$7 million in donations had been diverted by the central bank for other purposes. The group suspended future grants to Zimbabwe until the money was repaid, a move which immediately saw the central bank come up with the millions that were repaid on Friday.
But the bank will now have to answer for the closure of Metallon Gold’s five mines, after officials said this week’s closure resulted from long delays receiving payments for gold delivered to the RBZ.
“We have no mine which is operating at the moment,” Metallon Gold’s CEO Collen Gura said on Thursday. “We cannot continue to produce when we are not getting paid, so there are no operations at any of our mines across the country.”
Metallon Gold, which produces 40 percent of the country’s gold output, is owned by South African mining mogul Mzi Khumalo. According to the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe’s gold production plunged by 61 percent in March, compared to February this year, while the country’s average monthly gold production has declined from more than two thousand kilograms in 1999 to a mere 267kgs this year. Gold has traditionally been one of Zimbabwe’s main foreign currency earners, but the mining sector has been crippled in recent months by power cuts, shortages of foreign currency and the exodus of experienced personnel.
At the same time Zimbabwe’s central bank apparently owes gold producers US$30 million, dating back to end of 2007.
“The failure by the RBZ to pay for gold delivered to it has decimated the entire gold industry,” the Chamber of Mines said in a statement released Thursday.
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe from the University of Zimbabwe on Friday said the country’s central bank “has a lot to answer for and be held accountable to.” Makumbe said the mine closures are a serious threat for the country’s future “not just because of the loss of jobs but also because of the devastating effect this will have on the already fragile economy.”
Makumbe also argued that the mine closures mean that rebuilding the country will take even longer, because of the time and money needed to reopen mines.
“The Mugabe regime can ignore the crisis as they are doing,” Makumbe said. “But at the end of the day it will be many years to come before Zimbabwe can be repaired.”
Canadian Mining Exploration Company says Higher quality gold, silver deposits found in SC
“Daily updated mining exploration news on gold”—–HIGHER quality gold and silver deposits have been uncovered at a mining area in T’boli, South Cotabato, a Canadian mining exploration company said.
Cadan Resources Corp., which operates the Tboli gold-silver project through Philippine affiliate Tribal Mining Corp., announced recently that a new underground vein sampling possibly contain resources of 584,000 tons at 10.2 grams per ton gold and 50 grams per ton silver.
What’s your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers
In September, the mine area’s inferred mineral resources stand at 420,000 ounces of gold and 1.6 million ounces of silver. It pegged the grade at 5.5 grams per ton gold and 21 grams per ton silver.
“The latest higher grade results continue to indicate that the T’boli gold-silver resource not only appears to be larger in area but also the grade appears to be higher than that of the NI 43-101,” said Edgar D. Martinez, Tribal Mining president, referring to the September resource estimate.
In a statement, he noted that within this 400-meter strike length, “there has been no drilling but only minimal surface exploration activity.”
However, results of previous assays on the eastern side of the resource ranged from 13.37 g/t gold to a high of 81.14 g/t gold, Martinez added.
Tribal Mining was given approval by the Philippine government to continue its exploration activities last September 9 for potential development of the T’boli gold-silver project.
Cadan, previously known as Sur American Gold Corp., began underground development of the T’boli gold-silver deposits sometime later to determine higher quantity and quality of the mineral resources in the area.
The company’s mine development site straddles an area earlier contested by a native clan and a local cooperative.
The Maguan clan has sought clearance to mine the area of the T’boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which the clan contended forms part of their ancestral domain claim.
Consisting of small-scale mining operators, the cooperative had earlier asked a local court that 21 hectares of gold-rich portion of Barangay Kematu in T’boli town be appropriated for their exclusive use.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Constancio A. Paye Jr., Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director, said the dispute between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is separate from the claims of the Maguan clan.
During the term of then South Cotabato governor Hilario de Pedro III, he issued an executive order apportioning the 21 hectares as “minahang bayan” or “people’s mining site” to address the row between the cooperative and Tribal Mining.
Paye said that an estimated 20 to 30 tunnels had been developed by cooperative members at the “minahang bayan” site over the years.
Cadan Resources Corp., which operates the Tboli gold-silver project through Philippine affiliate Tribal Mining Corp., announced recently that a new underground vein sampling possibly contain resources of 584,000 tons at 10.2 grams per ton gold and 50 grams per ton silver.
What’s your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers
In September, the mine area’s inferred mineral resources stand at 420,000 ounces of gold and 1.6 million ounces of silver. It pegged the grade at 5.5 grams per ton gold and 21 grams per ton silver.
“The latest higher grade results continue to indicate that the T’boli gold-silver resource not only appears to be larger in area but also the grade appears to be higher than that of the NI 43-101,” said Edgar D. Martinez, Tribal Mining president, referring to the September resource estimate.
In a statement, he noted that within this 400-meter strike length, “there has been no drilling but only minimal surface exploration activity.”
However, results of previous assays on the eastern side of the resource ranged from 13.37 g/t gold to a high of 81.14 g/t gold, Martinez added.
Tribal Mining was given approval by the Philippine government to continue its exploration activities last September 9 for potential development of the T’boli gold-silver project.
Cadan, previously known as Sur American Gold Corp., began underground development of the T’boli gold-silver deposits sometime later to determine higher quantity and quality of the mineral resources in the area.
The company’s mine development site straddles an area earlier contested by a native clan and a local cooperative.
The Maguan clan has sought clearance to mine the area of the T’boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which the clan contended forms part of their ancestral domain claim.
Consisting of small-scale mining operators, the cooperative had earlier asked a local court that 21 hectares of gold-rich portion of Barangay Kematu in T’boli town be appropriated for their exclusive use.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Constancio A. Paye Jr., Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director, said the dispute between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is separate from the claims of the Maguan clan.
During the term of then South Cotabato governor Hilario de Pedro III, he issued an executive order apportioning the 21 hectares as “minahang bayan” or “people’s mining site” to address the row between the cooperative and Tribal Mining.
Paye said that an estimated 20 to 30 tunnels had been developed by cooperative members at the “minahang bayan” site over the years.
Guv Closes 145 ‘illegal’ gold tunnels
“Daily updated mining exploration news on gold”—- The South Cotabato Provincial Government has clamped down on alleged illegal small-scale mining players in T’boli town, closing down some 145 tunnels and serving stoppage orders to 17 ore processing or ball mill operators.
Lourdes S. Jumilla, Provincial Mining Regulatory Board secretariat chief, said that dozens of policemen and soldiers under the 27th Infantry Battalion helped serve the closure order against the mining tunnels on Wednesday.
What’s your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers
The closed gold mining tunnels cover an area of 21 hectares in Barangay Kematu, an expanse disputed by the native Maguan clan and the T’boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TMBMPC).
“These operators failed to get mining permits from the Provincial Government despite given enough time already,” Jumilla said.
Governor Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes said she ordered the closure of illegal small-scale operations months ago on the recommendation of the provincial mining board.
Jumilla said the stoppage order should have been implemented months ago but the Provincial Government deferred it in the hope that the Maguan clan and the cooperative settle their differences.
The application of the Maguan clan to mine in the 21 hectares, which they insisted forms part of their ancestral domain claim, was denied by the Provincial Government, Jumilla said without elaborating.
On the other hand, the cooperative failed to present a Free Prior Informed Consent certification from the tribe, she added.
The cooperative members are mining the 21 hectares for years and they were given three months starting last June to secure the necessary permit but they did not, thus we finally implemented the order of the governor, Jumilla said.
But she said the small illegal mining players will be allowed to resume operations if they can secure permits from the Provincial Government.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining Corp. under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Canadian mining exploration firm Cadan Resources Corp. recently confirmed high-grade gold and silver deposits in the area of Tribal Mining, its Philippine affiliate.
Jumilla said the settlement of the case between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is still pending before the Court of Appeals (CA).
Meantime, Ali S. Pantao, lawyer of the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said they received a copy from the Provincial Government stopping the operations of ball mill plants also in T’boli town.
Jumilla said they serve closure orders to 17 ball mill operators in the town still mired in poverty despite being known as a gold rush site since the 1980s.
They lack environmental clearance certificates but some of them are now trying to comply with the necessary requirements, she added.
There are around 50 ball mill plants in the town, some of them in residential areas, which the local government would like to transfer to a designated industrial zone, Jumilla said
Lourdes S. Jumilla, Provincial Mining Regulatory Board secretariat chief, said that dozens of policemen and soldiers under the 27th Infantry Battalion helped serve the closure order against the mining tunnels on Wednesday.
What’s your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers
The closed gold mining tunnels cover an area of 21 hectares in Barangay Kematu, an expanse disputed by the native Maguan clan and the T’boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TMBMPC).
“These operators failed to get mining permits from the Provincial Government despite given enough time already,” Jumilla said.
Governor Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes said she ordered the closure of illegal small-scale operations months ago on the recommendation of the provincial mining board.
Jumilla said the stoppage order should have been implemented months ago but the Provincial Government deferred it in the hope that the Maguan clan and the cooperative settle their differences.
The application of the Maguan clan to mine in the 21 hectares, which they insisted forms part of their ancestral domain claim, was denied by the Provincial Government, Jumilla said without elaborating.
On the other hand, the cooperative failed to present a Free Prior Informed Consent certification from the tribe, she added.
The cooperative members are mining the 21 hectares for years and they were given three months starting last June to secure the necessary permit but they did not, thus we finally implemented the order of the governor, Jumilla said.
But she said the small illegal mining players will be allowed to resume operations if they can secure permits from the Provincial Government.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining Corp. under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Canadian mining exploration firm Cadan Resources Corp. recently confirmed high-grade gold and silver deposits in the area of Tribal Mining, its Philippine affiliate.
Jumilla said the settlement of the case between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is still pending before the Court of Appeals (CA).
Meantime, Ali S. Pantao, lawyer of the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said they received a copy from the Provincial Government stopping the operations of ball mill plants also in T’boli town.
Jumilla said they serve closure orders to 17 ball mill operators in the town still mired in poverty despite being known as a gold rush site since the 1980s.
They lack environmental clearance certificates but some of them are now trying to comply with the necessary requirements, she added.
There are around 50 ball mill plants in the town, some of them in residential areas, which the local government would like to transfer to a designated industrial zone, Jumilla said
Sweeping changes in AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony
“Daily updated mining exploration news on gold”—-The new brooms at Africa’s biggest gold producers - AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony - have had a lot of sweeping to do in a fast-changing industry. Some have swept cleaner than others.
The aggressive way AngloGold CEO Mark Cutifani tackled the company’s hedge book (selling gold forward at a fixed price to reduce risk) is impressive. When Cutifani took over from Bobby Godsell in October last year, the firm had about 10,6m oz of gold hedged. This meant AngloGold was selling its product for less than the spot gold price. By the end of September the hedge book stood at 6,3m oz, and the company plans to reduce this to 6m oz by the end of 2008.
Australian-born Cutifani has also gained significant ground on the safety front. The June quarter was the first in AngloGold’s century-long history that a worker did not die in its mines, which are among the deepest in the world. Cutifani insists AngloGold can eliminate deaths, but Afrifocus Securities analyst Mark Madeyski says this is not possible because of the risks associated with mining such as deep and narrow ore bodies.
Another analyst, who can’t be named because of his company’s policy, says Cutifani has delivered on all his promises, particularly on production.
The other gold major that’s experienced a makeover since its leadership change is Harmony. Graham Briggs took the reins from 12-year veteran Bernard Swanepoel in August 2007. Swanepoel had quit abruptly, leading to a 30% drop in the share price in just two days. From the start, Briggs emphasised Harmony was returning to its “back to basics” mining approach.
Briggs, a geologist, has succeeded on this front, controlling costs and upping production. He has also engineered deals involving Harmony’s uranium and Papua New Guinea (PNG) assets. Both transactions have added value to the group. In PNG, Harmony sold a 50% stake in its Hidden Valley mine as well as exploration targets to Australia’s Newcrest for about US$530m. In December last year, Briggs announced the sale of a 60% stake in its Randfontein uranium dumps and a mine shaft to Pamodzi Resources Fund for $209m.
Both of these transactions bring cash to Harmony’s balance sheet and reduce the amount of capital the company will have to spend to develop the projects by itself. This will allow the firm to slash its net debt from R2,4bn at the end of September to R224m by mid-2009. That puts Harmony in a good position, given the uncertain credit environment.
“I think Briggs has done quite well, given what he’s got to work with,” says Madeyski, referring to the fact that Harmony’s mines are older and of a lower quality than its competitors.
The other new appointment in the sector is Nick Holland, who took over as Gold Fields CEO from Ian Cockerill on May 1. His first day on the job was a baptism of fire: nine workers plunged to their deaths at Gold Fields South Deep mine after a rope snapped. Since then, Holland has focused on improving the group’s safety performance.
“I don’t think he’s achieved much yet,” says Madeyski. He does, however, acknowledge Holland has had less time at the helm to effect any changes than Briggs and Cutifani.
What does stand in Holland’s favour is that the chartered accountant has tackled the Gold Fields safety record head-on. His actions include the six-month closure of the main shaft at the company’s key Kloof mine for repairs, costing the company 500 kg/month of gold. Though this brings about short-term production pain, it sets the company up for less safety-related stoppages in the future. The anonymous analyst adds that many of Gold Fields safety problems are a legacy left by previous management, and Holland has been left “to pick up the pieces”.
Out of the three CEOs, Madeyski picks Cutifani as the winner: “He knows what he’s doing, I’m impressed with him.” The unnamed analyst agrees, saying: “AngloGold’s a completely different ship; there’s a whole different vibe there.”
The markets, however, have favoured Briggs, with Harmony’s share price having fallen less than the other two. It slid 38% from a high of R118,50 to R72,97 this week. But this is skewed by the fact that Harmony’s stock came off a low base after dropping drastically in August 2007, following a production forecast cut and Swanepoel’s resignation. AngloGold has lost 47% from its 12-month high of R349 to trade at R182,39/share. Gold Fields fell the most, giving up 52% of its R137,40/share 12-month high to trade at R65.
The aggressive way AngloGold CEO Mark Cutifani tackled the company’s hedge book (selling gold forward at a fixed price to reduce risk) is impressive. When Cutifani took over from Bobby Godsell in October last year, the firm had about 10,6m oz of gold hedged. This meant AngloGold was selling its product for less than the spot gold price. By the end of September the hedge book stood at 6,3m oz, and the company plans to reduce this to 6m oz by the end of 2008.
Australian-born Cutifani has also gained significant ground on the safety front. The June quarter was the first in AngloGold’s century-long history that a worker did not die in its mines, which are among the deepest in the world. Cutifani insists AngloGold can eliminate deaths, but Afrifocus Securities analyst Mark Madeyski says this is not possible because of the risks associated with mining such as deep and narrow ore bodies.
Another analyst, who can’t be named because of his company’s policy, says Cutifani has delivered on all his promises, particularly on production.
The other gold major that’s experienced a makeover since its leadership change is Harmony. Graham Briggs took the reins from 12-year veteran Bernard Swanepoel in August 2007. Swanepoel had quit abruptly, leading to a 30% drop in the share price in just two days. From the start, Briggs emphasised Harmony was returning to its “back to basics” mining approach.
Briggs, a geologist, has succeeded on this front, controlling costs and upping production. He has also engineered deals involving Harmony’s uranium and Papua New Guinea (PNG) assets. Both transactions have added value to the group. In PNG, Harmony sold a 50% stake in its Hidden Valley mine as well as exploration targets to Australia’s Newcrest for about US$530m. In December last year, Briggs announced the sale of a 60% stake in its Randfontein uranium dumps and a mine shaft to Pamodzi Resources Fund for $209m.
Both of these transactions bring cash to Harmony’s balance sheet and reduce the amount of capital the company will have to spend to develop the projects by itself. This will allow the firm to slash its net debt from R2,4bn at the end of September to R224m by mid-2009. That puts Harmony in a good position, given the uncertain credit environment.
“I think Briggs has done quite well, given what he’s got to work with,” says Madeyski, referring to the fact that Harmony’s mines are older and of a lower quality than its competitors.
The other new appointment in the sector is Nick Holland, who took over as Gold Fields CEO from Ian Cockerill on May 1. His first day on the job was a baptism of fire: nine workers plunged to their deaths at Gold Fields South Deep mine after a rope snapped. Since then, Holland has focused on improving the group’s safety performance.
“I don’t think he’s achieved much yet,” says Madeyski. He does, however, acknowledge Holland has had less time at the helm to effect any changes than Briggs and Cutifani.
What does stand in Holland’s favour is that the chartered accountant has tackled the Gold Fields safety record head-on. His actions include the six-month closure of the main shaft at the company’s key Kloof mine for repairs, costing the company 500 kg/month of gold. Though this brings about short-term production pain, it sets the company up for less safety-related stoppages in the future. The anonymous analyst adds that many of Gold Fields safety problems are a legacy left by previous management, and Holland has been left “to pick up the pieces”.
Out of the three CEOs, Madeyski picks Cutifani as the winner: “He knows what he’s doing, I’m impressed with him.” The unnamed analyst agrees, saying: “AngloGold’s a completely different ship; there’s a whole different vibe there.”
The markets, however, have favoured Briggs, with Harmony’s share price having fallen less than the other two. It slid 38% from a high of R118,50 to R72,97 this week. But this is skewed by the fact that Harmony’s stock came off a low base after dropping drastically in August 2007, following a production forecast cut and Swanepoel’s resignation. AngloGold has lost 47% from its 12-month high of R349 to trade at R182,39/share. Gold Fields fell the most, giving up 52% of its R137,40/share 12-month high to trade at R65.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Czech coal mining group to buy 25% stake in Ukraine’s Ferrexpo
“Daily Updated Mining Exploration News on Coal”—New World Resources, the London-listed Czech coal mining group, is to buy 25 per cent of Ferrexpo, a Ukrainian iron ore producer whose owner had been forced to sell off part of his stake in the company after it plunged in value, according to Financial Times.
NWR said that it would pay pound126.6m ($217.5m), or 86p a share, for the stake in Ferrexpo acquired this month by NWR’s majority shareholder, RPG Industries, the investment vehicle of the Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala. The purchase will be funded from NWR’s existing cash and the company expects to be offered a place on Ferrexpo’s board.
“It is very complementary to our presence in the region,” said Miklos Salamon, NWR’s chairman, adding that the purchase would give NWR a strategic partner in Ukraine, with some of Europe’s largest coal and iron reserves.
NWR, through its subsidiary OKD, is the largest hard coal producer in the Czech Republic and has begun analysing investments in Polish coal mines.
Ferrexpo, which has its headquarters in Switzerland and briefly entered the FTSE 100 this year, produces more than 9m metric tons of iron ore pellets a year – of which 85 per cent is exported to steelmakers around the world – as well as a further 30m metric tons of iron ore. Both companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
“We have got the region’s pre-eminent coal producer and pre-eminent iron ore producer in a significant alliance,” added Mr Salamon.
Ferrexpo is controlled by Kostyantin Zhevago, a Ukrainian billionaire businessmen and politician, who was faced with a margin call by JPMorgan after Ferrexpo’s shares were hit by the sell-off in commodities stocks.
Shares in Ferrexpo have dropped 84 per cent since May and closed at 77p on Monday. Mr Zhevago still holds 51 per cent of the company through his investment vehicle Fevamotinico.
Mr Bakala, who has made a fortune by investing in distressed heavy industries, quickly seized on Mr Zhevago’s troubles. “The only reason there was a deal was because of current circumstances,” said Mr Salamon.
NWR said that it would pay pound126.6m ($217.5m), or 86p a share, for the stake in Ferrexpo acquired this month by NWR’s majority shareholder, RPG Industries, the investment vehicle of the Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala. The purchase will be funded from NWR’s existing cash and the company expects to be offered a place on Ferrexpo’s board.
“It is very complementary to our presence in the region,” said Miklos Salamon, NWR’s chairman, adding that the purchase would give NWR a strategic partner in Ukraine, with some of Europe’s largest coal and iron reserves.
NWR, through its subsidiary OKD, is the largest hard coal producer in the Czech Republic and has begun analysing investments in Polish coal mines.
Ferrexpo, which has its headquarters in Switzerland and briefly entered the FTSE 100 this year, produces more than 9m metric tons of iron ore pellets a year – of which 85 per cent is exported to steelmakers around the world – as well as a further 30m metric tons of iron ore. Both companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
“We have got the region’s pre-eminent coal producer and pre-eminent iron ore producer in a significant alliance,” added Mr Salamon.
Ferrexpo is controlled by Kostyantin Zhevago, a Ukrainian billionaire businessmen and politician, who was faced with a margin call by JPMorgan after Ferrexpo’s shares were hit by the sell-off in commodities stocks.
Shares in Ferrexpo have dropped 84 per cent since May and closed at 77p on Monday. Mr Zhevago still holds 51 per cent of the company through his investment vehicle Fevamotinico.
Mr Bakala, who has made a fortune by investing in distressed heavy industries, quickly seized on Mr Zhevago’s troubles. “The only reason there was a deal was because of current circumstances,” said Mr Salamon.
Coal Mining Equipment and Technology in China: A Strategic Entry Report, 1995 (Strategic Planning Series) (Ring-bound)
From the Publisher:
Our publications provide timely and reliable market information as a complement to strategic planning processes. For a price well below the cost of a round-trip business-class ticket, the executive has access to the basic factors driving strategic planning. As such, our reports are a 'one-stop' shop by giving coverage on economic and political issues, as well as analyzing human resources, entry strategies and legal risks. With offices in Europe, Africa and the United States, Icon Group International has a number of specialty research groups. This report was published by the Manufacturing Research Group.
The primary audience for this report is managers involved with the highest levels of the strategic planning process, and consultants who help their clients with this task. The user will not only benefit from the hundreds of hours that went into the methodology and its application, but also from its alternative perspective on strategic planning in China.
This report helps executives evaluate strategic investment and entry alternatives in China. In order to evaluate China, Icon Group International, Inc. draws on a methodology developed by Professor Philip Parker at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. The methodology decomposes a country's strategic potential along two key dimensions: (1) latent demand, and (2) accessibility. A country may have very high latent demand, yet have low accessibility, making it a less attractive market than many smaller potential countries having higher levels of accessibility.
This report provides a strategic profile of China along these lines. Throughout the discussion, literally hundreds of statistics on China are benchmarked against regional and global averages. The reader can thus quickly understand where China fits into the regional and global perspective. The report first investigates the economic fundamentals affecting China. These fundamentals are the source for China's latent demand. Then, the subsequent chapters detail China's accessibility. This evaluation covers a number of entry alternatives, including export strategies, and local direct investment strategies. If a firm decides to have a local presence in China, this requires a strategic understanding of local business conditions. The conditions investigated in this report include local marketing (advertising, distribution, pricing issues) and entry strategies (opening an office, joint venturing, etc.), as well as human resources management (labor laws, costs, regulations). Because local presence can increase...
Underground Mining Equipment in Mexico: A Strategic Entry Report, 1998 (Ring-bound)
The primary audience for this report is managers involved with the highest levels of the strategic planning process, and consultants who help their clients with this task. The user will not only benefit from the hundreds of hours that went into the methodology and its application, but also from its alternative perspective on strategic planning in Mexico.
This report helps executives evaluate strategic investment and entry alternatives in Mexico. In order to evaluate Mexico, Icon Group International, Inc. draws on a methodology developed by Professor Philip Parker at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. The methodology decomposes a country's strategic potential along two key dimensions: (1) latent demand, and (2) accessibility. A country may have very high latent demand, yet have low accessibility, making it a less attractive market than many smaller potential countries having higher levels of accessibility.
This report provides a strategic profile of Mexico along these lines. Throughout the discussion, literally hundreds of statistics on Mexico are benchmarked against regional and global averages. The reader can thus quickly understand where Mexico fits into the regional and global perspective. The report first investigates the economic fundamentals affecting Mexico. These fundamentals are the source for Mexico's latent demand. Then, the subsequent chapters detail Mexico's accessibility. This evaluation covers a number of entry alternatives, including export strategies, and local direct investment strategies. If a firm decides to have a local presence in Mexico, this requires a strategic understanding of local business conditions. The conditions investigated in this report include local marketing (advertising, distribution, pricing issues) and entry strategies (opening an office, joint venturing, etc.), as well as human resources management (labor laws, costs, regulations). Because local presence can...
Mining and Mineral Processing Equipment in India: A Strategic Entry Report, 2000 (Strategic Planning Series) (Ring-bound)
The primary audience for this report is managers involved with the highest levels of the strategic planning process, and consultants who help their clients with this task. The user will not only benefit from the hundreds of hours that went into the methodology and its application, but also from its alternative perspective on strategic planning in India.
This report helps executives evaluate strategic investment and entry alternatives in India. In order to evaluate India, Icon Group International, Inc. draws on a methodology developed by Professor Philip Parker at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. The methodology decomposes a country's strategic potential along two key dimensions: (1) latent demand, and (2) accessibility. A country may have very high latent demand, yet have low accessibility, making it a less attractive market than many smaller potential countries having higher levels of accessibility.
This report provides a strategic profile of India along these lines. Throughout the discussion, literally hundreds of statistics on India are benchmarked against regional and global averages. The reader can thus quickly understand where India fits into the regional and global perspective. The report first investigates the economic fundamentals affecting India. These fundamentals are the source for India's latent demand. Then, the subsequent chapters detail India's accessibility. This evaluation covers a number of entry alternatives, including export strategies, and local direct investment strategies. If a firm decides to have a local presence in India, this requires a strategic understanding of local business conditions. The conditions investigated in this report include local marketing (advertising, distribution, pricing issues) and entry strategies (opening an office, joint venturing, etc.), as well as human resources management (labor laws, costs, regulations). Because local presence can increase...
The International Mining Directory: A Complete Guide to Mining & Mine-Equipment Companies Worldwide (International Mining Directory)
*The standard reference work on the mining industry
Key Phrases :
Type of Equipment, South Africa, Vice President, Sales Manager, British Columbia, General Manager, Chief Executive, Finance Director, Sales Director, Technical Director, Holmes Chapel, South Yorkshire, Marketing Director, Dunsmuir Street, Amber Way, Allen Road, Provence Cedex, Rue Nicolas Ledoux, West Yorkshire, Marketing Manager, Company Secretary, Western Australia, West Sixth Avenue, Manor Lane, Evans Street
Friday, September 26, 2008
Slope Stability in Surface Mining
Description
As we enter the twenty-first century, mines are being planned to reach depths of more than 1,100 meters, waste rock embankments have surpassed 600 meters in height, tailings dams have reached heights of 200 meters, and heap leach facilities have topped 150 meters. The push toward higher, deeper, and steeper, along with the larger and more productive equipment in use today, continues to test our tools and capabilities. Slope Stability in Surface Mining documents the progressive rise in technical understanding and sophistication in the field. Only be continuously collecting and exchanging information can design concepts, construction methods, monitoring strategies, and reclamation practices keep pace with the times. Slope Stability in Surface Mining creates a common platform on which to base correct, economical, and safe slope design and construction decisions.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Data Preparation for Data Mining (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Description
Data Preparation for Data Mining addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation. Thanks largely to its perceived difficulty, data preparation has traditionally taken a backseat to the more alluring question of how best to extract meaningful knowledge. But without adequate preparation of your data, the return on the resources invested in mining is certain to be disappointing.
Description
Data Preparation for Data Mining addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation. Thanks largely to its perceived difficulty, data preparation has traditionally taken a backseat to the more alluring question of how best to extract meaningful knowledge. But without adequate preparation of your data, the return on the resources invested in mining is certain to be disappointing.
Data Mining for Business Intelligence: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications in Microsoft Office Excel with XLMiner
Description
In today's world, businesses are becoming more capable of accessing their ideal consumers, and an understanding of data mining contributes to this success. Data Mining for Business Intelligence, which was developed from a course taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, and the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, uses real data and actual cases to illustrate the applicability of data mining intelligence to the development of successful business models.
Featuring XLMiner, the Microsoft Office Excel add-in, this book allows readers to follow along and implement algorithms at their own speed, with a minimal learning curve. In addition, students and practitioners of data mining techniques are presented with hands-on, business-oriented applications. An abundant amount of exercises and examples are provided to motivate learning and understanding.
Data Mining for Business Intelligence:
* Provides both a theoretical and practical understanding of the key methods of classification, prediction, reduction, exploration, and affinity analysis
* Features a business decision-making context for these key methods
* Illustrates the application and interpretation of these methods using real business cases and data
This book helps readers understand the beneficial relationship that can be established between data mining and smart business practices, and is an excellent learning tool for creating valuable strategies and making wiser business decisions.
Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, Second Edition (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Review: By Dr. Lee Carlson
The major virtue of this book is the emphasis on practical applications and bread-and-butter techniques for accomplishing tasks that one could expect in a business environment. That is not to say that these techniques could not be used in a scientific research environment. They indeed could be, and in fact may be even easier to implement due to the long time scales that are available in research environments for processing information.
In the business world however data mining has proven to be an activity that gives a substantial competitive edge, and so many businesses are seeking even more sophisticated methods of data mining and Web mining. Data mining could easily be considered to a branch of artificial intelligence (AI), due to its emphasis on learning patterns and performing classification, and the learning and classification tools it uses were discovered by individuals who would describe themselves as being researchers in artificial intelligence. But many, and it is fair to include the authors of this book, do not want to view data mining as part of artificial intelligence, since the latter stirs up discussions on the origin of intelligence, autonomous robots, and conscious machines, to paraphrase a line from chapter 8 of this book. The authors make it a point to emphasize that data mining, or "machine learning" is concerned with the algorithms for the inference of structure from data and the validation of that structure.
Along with its practical emphasis, the book includes discussions of some very interesting developments that are not usually included in books or monographs on data mining. One of these concerns the current research in `programming by demonstration.' This research is targeted towards the "ordinary" computer user who does not possess any programming knowledge but yet wants to automate predictable tasks. The only thing required from the user is knowledge of how to do the task in the usual way. As an example, the authors discuss briefly the `Familiar' system, which extracts information from user applications to make predictions and then generates explanations for the user about its predictions. Even more interesting is that it learns the tasks that are specialized for each individual user. It learns from the unique style of each user and their interaction history. One of the most interesting and powerful claims of programming by demonstration is that is domain-independent, considering the current intense interest in reasoning patterns or algorithms that can process information arising from multiple domains. In this regard a successful system would then be able to learn how to play chess from a user along with perhaps composing music. Again, the ability of a machine to reason in many domains is a step towards what many in the artificial community have called a `universal' learning machine. But the authors do not hold to this view, and in fact they open up the discussion in the chapter on the Weka workbench with a statement to the effect that there is no single learning algorithm that will work with all data mining problems. The "universal learner" they say, is an "idealistic fantasy."
Another interesting discussion included in the book is that of `co-training', which is a methodology that arises in the context of `semi-supervised learning.' In this learning scheme the input contains both unlabeled and labeled data. In co-training, one depends on the fact that the classification task depends on two different and independent perspectives. Then assuming there are a few labeled examples, a different model will be learned for each perspective, and then the models are separately used to label the unlabeled examples. Each model will contribute both negative and positive examples to the pool of labeled examples. The procedure is then repeated until the unlabeled pool is empty.
This allows both models to be trained on the new pool of labeled examples. The authors point out some evidence indicating that if a (naive) Bayesian learner is used throughout this procedure, then it outperforms a learner that develops a single model from the labeled data. The intuition behind this is that using the independence of the two perspectives allows one to reduce the likelihood of an incorrect labeling. References are given for readers that want to investigate this approach in more detail, along with more brief discussions on its generalizations, such as co-EM, which involves probabilistic labeling of unlabeled data in one perspective, and how to use support vector machines in place of the naive Bayesian learner.
For the practitioner, the most useful discussion in the book concerns the evaluation of the different methods for data mining. What makes one approach to data mining better than another, and is there then a ranking of the different approaches? Can one in fact make judgments on the reliability or performance of data mining algorithms using solely the training or test data? If one had a general methodology for ranking data mining algorithms according to their performance then this would be a major advance, since this would allow a classification scheme for machine learning where one could speak of one machine being `more intelligent' than another. Unfortunately however this is difficult, and even said to be impossible according to some researchers. There are results in the research literature, going by the name of `free lunch' theorems, which seem to indicate that one cannot distinguish machine learning algorithms based solely on the way the deal with training or test data. The authors do not discuss these results in this book, but it is certainly apparent that they are aware of the difficult issues involved in the prediction of performance for data mining algorithms.
Friday, August 29, 2008
The llaunching of Gas cleaning System in the Arc Furnace Shop of Its Otelu Rosu Facility at Ductil Steel, a Romanian Company
OTELU ROSU, Romania, August 27 /PRNewswire/ — Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL - News), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces it is launching a gas cleaning system in the arc furnace shop of its Otelu Rosu facility at Ductil Steel, a Romanian company acquired by Mechel in April 2008.Commissioning of the gas cleaning system was timed with the celebration of Metallurgist Day in Romania and represents one more step in implementing the equipment modernization program at Mechel’s Romanian facilities. Ensuring a safe environment at the facilities is one of the priorities of the program.
The gas cleaning system has been supplied by Italian-based Tecoaer Company, and meets the highest demands on machinery and technologies. The total amount of investments into the project is 12 million euro (US$17.5 million).
The equipment capacity totals 2,000,000 cubic meters per hour. Operation of the new system will reduce dust emissions into the air to 5 mg per cubic meter, well below the maximum dust emission of 10 mg per cubic meter allowed under European standards.
Furthermore, the gas cleaning system contains automation equipment and devices for transportation of retained dust. The contract also covers services for basic engineering, installation supervision and technical support. Other Romanian companies that participated in this project included ICSH Hunedoara and Mechel Proiectare Bucuresti, each of which provided design, installation and other services.
Deployment of the new gas cleaning system will improve working conditions for Otelu Rosu employees and decrease environmental impact. Ensuring a safe environment and improved working conditions at production sites is one of the primary goals for implementing technical renovation projects in all of Mechel’s facilities. Similar equipment installations have already been instituted at some of the Company’s other subsidiaries, including: Mechel Targoviste (Romania) and the Bratsk and Tikhvin Ferroalloy plants.
Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes three segments: mining, steel, and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.
Source: Mechel OAO
The gas cleaning system has been supplied by Italian-based Tecoaer Company, and meets the highest demands on machinery and technologies. The total amount of investments into the project is 12 million euro (US$17.5 million).
The equipment capacity totals 2,000,000 cubic meters per hour. Operation of the new system will reduce dust emissions into the air to 5 mg per cubic meter, well below the maximum dust emission of 10 mg per cubic meter allowed under European standards.
Furthermore, the gas cleaning system contains automation equipment and devices for transportation of retained dust. The contract also covers services for basic engineering, installation supervision and technical support. Other Romanian companies that participated in this project included ICSH Hunedoara and Mechel Proiectare Bucuresti, each of which provided design, installation and other services.
Deployment of the new gas cleaning system will improve working conditions for Otelu Rosu employees and decrease environmental impact. Ensuring a safe environment and improved working conditions at production sites is one of the primary goals for implementing technical renovation projects in all of Mechel’s facilities. Similar equipment installations have already been instituted at some of the Company’s other subsidiaries, including: Mechel Targoviste (Romania) and the Bratsk and Tikhvin Ferroalloy plants.
Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes three segments: mining, steel, and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.
Source: Mechel OAO
Monday, August 25, 2008
Copper mining News: "Lundin Mining names new chief financial officer"
Ted Mayers to be new chief financial officer of Lundin Mining, will be based in Toronto
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lundin Mining Corp., which produces copper, nickel, lead and zinc, said Monday Chief Financial Officer Anders Haker is leaving the company and will be replaced by Ted Mayers, effective Sept. 2.
Mayers, who previously served as chief financial officer of LionOre Mining International Ltd., will be based in Toronto. Three former LionOre executives also will join the finance team.
Neither Haker, who has been based in Stockholm, nor the company's financial reporting team currently based in Vancouver, will be relocating to Toronto.
Shares of Lundin Mining fell 15 cents, or 3 percent, to $4.92 in late morning trading.
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080825/lundin_mining_personnel.html?.v=2
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lundin Mining Corp., which produces copper, nickel, lead and zinc, said Monday Chief Financial Officer Anders Haker is leaving the company and will be replaced by Ted Mayers, effective Sept. 2.
Mayers, who previously served as chief financial officer of LionOre Mining International Ltd., will be based in Toronto. Three former LionOre executives also will join the finance team.
Neither Haker, who has been based in Stockholm, nor the company's financial reporting team currently based in Vancouver, will be relocating to Toronto.
Shares of Lundin Mining fell 15 cents, or 3 percent, to $4.92 in late morning trading.
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080825/lundin_mining_personnel.html?.v=2
The newest news on the Increase of Oil price : - "Oil rises above $115 after steep slide"
Oil rose above $115 a barrel on Monday as some investors saw buying opportunities after prices posted the biggest one-day slide in percentage terms since 2004 in the previous session. Analysts said tensions between the West and Russia over Georgia would lend prices support. Moscow’s military intervention in Georgia has disrupted some shipments of Azeri oil through Georgia.
Precision Drilling to buy peer Grey Wolf
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canada’s Precision Drilling Trust will buy U.S. driller Grey Wolf Inc for US$2 billion in cash and stock, creating one of the largest North American oil and gas rig operators, the companies said on Monday. Precision Drilling, Canada’s largest oil and gas driller, will pay US$5 in cash and 0.1883 newly issued Precision trust units for each Grey Wolf common share.
Maple Leaf expects meat recall to cost C$20 mln
TORONTO - Maple Leaf Foods Inc said on Sunday it expects a direct cost of about C$20 million ($19 million) from a recall of contaminated meat linked to an outbreak of food poisoning that has killed at least four people in Canada. Health authorities said on Saturday genetic tests had determined that a Toronto plant operated by Maple Leaf was the source of meat contaminated with listeria bacteria.
No smooth road to trust conversions
CALGARY, Alberta . Two cases, coming in less than a week, show that investors need to be wary as Canada’s income trusts, with their tax breaks set to end, convert themselves back into corporations. The tax breaks ceded to trusts, which distribute most of their cash to unitholders, are to expire 2011.
Fed cuts growth forecast due to global woes
OTTAWA/TORONTO . Canada’s government has slashed its forecast for economic growth in 2008 to 1.1 percent from 1.7 percent, citing global economic woes it said were beyond its control. “We are feeling the impacts of global economic factors beyond the control of any one individual or government,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in his department’s fiscal update on Friday, which also noted that Ottawa returned to a budget surplus in June.
Buffett says has no “buy order” on oil sands firms
CALGARY, Alberta - Warren Buffett toured Canada’s oil sands with his friend Bill Gates this week to understand how the resources are developed, but the billionaire investor said on Friday he had no plan to buy into the sector. In an interview on CNBC television, Buffett said he and the Microsoft co-founder discussed their interest in the oil sands a few months ago, and agreed they would get a better education with a first-hand look than just reading about it.
Derivatives flagged as Canadian regulatory issue
TORONTO - A large institutional investor and Canada’s central bank suggest that Canadian securities rules may need to be broadened to deal with derivative instruments. In submissions to an advisory panel on securities regulation, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which manages more than C$100 billion in assets, and the Bank of Canada each lauded the new Derivatives Act in the province of Quebec, which was passed in June.
RBC may reach ARS deal with regulators: report
TORONTO - Royal Bank of Canada is in settlement talks with U.S. regulators over its role in the troubled U.S. auction-rate securities market, the Globe and Mail newspaper said on Friday. The move may result in the bank buying back some of the investments from retail clients, the paper said.
Toronto stocks fall on weaker oil, metals prices
TORONTO - Toronto stocks finished a strong week on a losing note on Friday, retreating on the back of sagging oil and metals prices, with losses offset partly by stronger financial issues. A 5.4 percent drop in oil prices — the biggest drop since 2004 — yanked the TSX’s heavily-weighted energy subgroup down 2.35 percent, while weaker prices for metals such as copper and gold dragged the materials group down 2.34 percent.
Canada dollar falls as oil prices ease, bonds drop
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar ended lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday, given a weaker commodity price backdrop, but the big gains it made on Thursday were enough to allow it to close higher for the week. Domestic bond prices, with no economic data to trigger a move, finished lower across the curve alongside the bigger U.S. Treasury market as U.S. stocks rose sharply.
Precision Drilling to buy peer Grey Wolf
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canada’s Precision Drilling Trust will buy U.S. driller Grey Wolf Inc for US$2 billion in cash and stock, creating one of the largest North American oil and gas rig operators, the companies said on Monday. Precision Drilling, Canada’s largest oil and gas driller, will pay US$5 in cash and 0.1883 newly issued Precision trust units for each Grey Wolf common share.
Maple Leaf expects meat recall to cost C$20 mln
TORONTO - Maple Leaf Foods Inc said on Sunday it expects a direct cost of about C$20 million ($19 million) from a recall of contaminated meat linked to an outbreak of food poisoning that has killed at least four people in Canada. Health authorities said on Saturday genetic tests had determined that a Toronto plant operated by Maple Leaf was the source of meat contaminated with listeria bacteria.
No smooth road to trust conversions
CALGARY, Alberta . Two cases, coming in less than a week, show that investors need to be wary as Canada’s income trusts, with their tax breaks set to end, convert themselves back into corporations. The tax breaks ceded to trusts, which distribute most of their cash to unitholders, are to expire 2011.
Fed cuts growth forecast due to global woes
OTTAWA/TORONTO . Canada’s government has slashed its forecast for economic growth in 2008 to 1.1 percent from 1.7 percent, citing global economic woes it said were beyond its control. “We are feeling the impacts of global economic factors beyond the control of any one individual or government,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in his department’s fiscal update on Friday, which also noted that Ottawa returned to a budget surplus in June.
Buffett says has no “buy order” on oil sands firms
CALGARY, Alberta - Warren Buffett toured Canada’s oil sands with his friend Bill Gates this week to understand how the resources are developed, but the billionaire investor said on Friday he had no plan to buy into the sector. In an interview on CNBC television, Buffett said he and the Microsoft co-founder discussed their interest in the oil sands a few months ago, and agreed they would get a better education with a first-hand look than just reading about it.
Derivatives flagged as Canadian regulatory issue
TORONTO - A large institutional investor and Canada’s central bank suggest that Canadian securities rules may need to be broadened to deal with derivative instruments. In submissions to an advisory panel on securities regulation, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which manages more than C$100 billion in assets, and the Bank of Canada each lauded the new Derivatives Act in the province of Quebec, which was passed in June.
RBC may reach ARS deal with regulators: report
TORONTO - Royal Bank of Canada is in settlement talks with U.S. regulators over its role in the troubled U.S. auction-rate securities market, the Globe and Mail newspaper said on Friday. The move may result in the bank buying back some of the investments from retail clients, the paper said.
Toronto stocks fall on weaker oil, metals prices
TORONTO - Toronto stocks finished a strong week on a losing note on Friday, retreating on the back of sagging oil and metals prices, with losses offset partly by stronger financial issues. A 5.4 percent drop in oil prices — the biggest drop since 2004 — yanked the TSX’s heavily-weighted energy subgroup down 2.35 percent, while weaker prices for metals such as copper and gold dragged the materials group down 2.34 percent.
Canada dollar falls as oil prices ease, bonds drop
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar ended lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday, given a weaker commodity price backdrop, but the big gains it made on Thursday were enough to allow it to close higher for the week. Domestic bond prices, with no economic data to trigger a move, finished lower across the curve alongside the bigger U.S. Treasury market as U.S. stocks rose sharply.
The Latest News on the Price of Gold : - Five reasons gold is headed to $1,500
Managers of two top-performing gold funds expect gold to soar further. Here’s why, plus five stocks they expect to share the ride.
Gold’s much-heralded climb above $1,000 an ounce was pretty short-lived. Gold’s long-term ascent won’t be.
With gold now trading closer to $900, this is a great time to load up on more exposure to bullion, which is only taking a breather before heading to $1,500 an ounce and higher.
That’s the view of two gold gurus who have been correctly calling bullish advances in the yellow metal for years, most recently predicting the move to $1,000 an ounce. That was in November, when it seemed like an audacious forecast.
With their forecast proved correct — if briefly — they’re not backing off. “There is lot more upside for gold,” says Thomas Winmill, who manages the Midas Fund (MIDSX), one of the top-performing precious metals funds, with a three-year average annual return of 41.6%. Winmill thinks gold could see $1,500 in 12 to 18 months.
Frank Holmes, who manages the second-best-performing gold fund this year, U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX), sees bullion going to $1,500 to $2,000 an ounce in the next leg up. He’s not offering a time frame for that target.
Like Winmill, Holmes is worth listening to because his precious metals fund is also consistently one of the top performers. His Gold and Precious Metals Fund is up 40.1% a year over the past three years. Their funds do 6 to 7 percentage points a year better than the average for their peers.
How gold goes 50% higher
If they are right about the move up to $1,500, that should drive some of their favourite gold and silver stocks significantly higher over the next year or two. Here’s the short list: Goldcorp (G.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N), Pan American Silver (PAAS.O) and Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO).
Another way to go, of course, is to simply buy shares of their funds.
Here’s a look at why they think gold will see $1,500 within a year or so.
Reason No. 1: The US dollar’s value is declining. “Gold is attractive as a safe haven when the (US) dollar is declining,” says Holmes. But why will the greenback continue to weaken? Above all, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been slashing interest rates dramatically, and it may reduce them even more. This makes investors move money to other countries — especially emerging-market economies that have higher interest rates and higher growth rates. As investors move away from U.S. assets, they sell the dollar and push it down. And they buy other currencies, pushing them up against the dollar.
Investors are also losing confidence in the U.S. economy and U.S.-based investments because of the growing federal deficit, the subprime mess and concerns about the Fed’s new role in bailing out investment banks exposed to too much subprime debt.
Reason No. 2: More U.S. inflation on the way. To see where inflation is headed, just take a peek upstream in the production process, says Winmill. Prices on intermediate goods — or stuff that is midway through production — advanced 8.8% during the 12 months through the end of February. Prices on early-stage “crude” goods were up 24%, according to producer price index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). “I see those price increases coming into the economy,” says Winmill. “That is inflation in the pipeline.” Prices on finished goods gained 6.4% in the same time frame.
Consumers, of course, are already aware that prices for food and gasoline have gone up. But as inflation persists, they’ll hit a pivotal point in their thinking, when they switch to expecting prices to continue climbing. “That will trigger a psychology of investing in gold as a place to hang on in an inflationary environment,” believes Winmill.
Reason No. 3: Investors will seek greater safety. Inflation is already so high that investors are losing money in traditional “safe” investments like U.S. government bonds. Consumer prices are advancing by about 4% a year, according to the BLS, while two-year U.S. Treasury bonds are yielding around 1.6%. So investors who now buy two-year government bonds will be losing 2.4% of their money per year. If the Fed lowers rates even more and inflation advances, the negative returns on government bonds will only widen.
“Historically this has been very good for any kind of hard asset, and particularly gold,” says Winmill. “In a negative interest rate environment you don’t want to hold bonds because you lose purchasing power.” Winmill sees plenty of room for a shift in the flow of investing dollars toward gold, because only a minuscule amount of money in managed accounts is dedicated to investments in commodities.
Meanwhile, people continue to lose lots of money on investments like real estate and debt instruments backed by subprime mortgages — which will keep scaring them into buying perceived safe assets like gold. “There is massive deflation in real estate and financial assets, and gold has traditionally done well when there are concerns about deflation,” says Holmes.
Reason No. 4: Oil is getting pricier. Holmes points out that that over the past five years, gold and oil prices have moved in sync 90% of the time. The reason: When oil-producing countries take in more money because oil prices go up, they diversify by investing in gold. Typically, this creates a 10-to-1 relationship between the price of an ounce of gold and a barrel of oil. Thus $1,000 gold makes sense when a barrel of oil is $100. But that ratio can jump to 15 to 1 when geopolitical turmoil drives other investors to the safety of gold, says Holmes.
He thinks oil could trade as high as $125-$130 a barrel this year because of a basic imbalance between demand from emerging economies and short supply due to a lull in exploration investments during the 1990s, when oil prices were much lower. “If oil were to run to $125 a barrel because of a geopolitical event, gold would easily go to $1,500 an ounce,” says Holmes.
Reason No. 5: Gold should follow other commodities. Since so many other metals, including copper and oil, have smashed their inflation-adjusted price records, why shouldn’t gold follow, asks Holmes. If it does break through its inflation-adjusted high, set in 1980, it would trade north of $2,000 an ounce.
Here’s a closer look at the five precious metals plays that should benefit from a spike in the price of gold to $1,500 an ounce.
Goldcorp
Both Winmill and Holmes count the Vancouver, B.C.-based Goldcorp among their favourites. Winmill likes it because it is the fastest-growing low-cost producer among “senior” mining companies, or those that have producing mines.
The company expects 50% growth in gold production over next five years, driven by development of two promising Mexican projects called Peñasquito and Los Filos, and expansion of its Red Lake mine in Ontario (180 kilometres north of Dryden). Factoring in proceeds from the sale of mining byproducts like zinc and copper, the company should produce gold at $250 an ounce for the next five years, says Winmill.
Goldcorp is relatively safe because its holdings are in politically stable North American countries. It also has no insurance in the form of advance sales of gold meant to protect against a price decline. That’s good for investors if gold goes to $1,500 an ounce, because they will get the full benefit of the price increase.
Kinross Gold
Like Goldcorp, Kinross Gold is a low-cost producer about to see rapid growth, which is why it places high on Winmill’s list of favourite gold stocks. New projects in Brazil, Russia and Washington state should help increase production by 60% in 2009, compared to last year. Gold production costs (factoring in proceeds from the sale of silver, considered a byproduct of gold mining) should fall to $335 an ounce or less. One risk: The Kinross project in Russia could face interference or even a takeover by the Russian government.
“The operations in Russia come on line in the second quarter, and that is usually when the Russians make their move,” says Winmill.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
The world’s largest producer of molybdenum and one of the largest producers of copper, Freeport-McMoRan also has an estimated 41 million ounces in gold and 231 million ounces of silver reserves. That makes it one of the bigger players in the precious metals space.
Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia has the largest single gold reserve in the world. Freeport-McMoRan’s stock still looks cheap, despite healthy gains in the last year. It trades for about 7.1 times expected 2009 earnings, compared with 15.4 times 2009 earnings for other large companies that produce both copper and gold, according to Citigroup (C.N) analyst John Hill, who has a buy rating and a $125 price target on the stock.
Two silver plays
Because silver will move up in price for the same reasons that bullion does, our two gold gurus put two silver producers at the top of the list of their favourite precious metals plays.
Winmill likes Pan American Silver, which he says looks cheap considering that the company expects production to increase by 14% to 19.5 million ounces this year. Bear Stearns (BSC.N) analyst Michael Dudas thinks production could advance to 25 million ounces by 2009 — one reason he has a $40 price target on the stock.
Holmes likes Silver Wheaton, which makes money by purchasing silver from miners in long-term contracts and then reselling it. The company has contracts to purchase silver for about $3.90 an ounce, according to Morningstar analyst Vahid Fathi. That looks pretty good given that a move in gold to $1,500 suggests silver would sell for $30 an ounce.
By Michael Brush
Gold’s much-heralded climb above $1,000 an ounce was pretty short-lived. Gold’s long-term ascent won’t be.
With gold now trading closer to $900, this is a great time to load up on more exposure to bullion, which is only taking a breather before heading to $1,500 an ounce and higher.
That’s the view of two gold gurus who have been correctly calling bullish advances in the yellow metal for years, most recently predicting the move to $1,000 an ounce. That was in November, when it seemed like an audacious forecast.
With their forecast proved correct — if briefly — they’re not backing off. “There is lot more upside for gold,” says Thomas Winmill, who manages the Midas Fund (MIDSX), one of the top-performing precious metals funds, with a three-year average annual return of 41.6%. Winmill thinks gold could see $1,500 in 12 to 18 months.
Frank Holmes, who manages the second-best-performing gold fund this year, U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX), sees bullion going to $1,500 to $2,000 an ounce in the next leg up. He’s not offering a time frame for that target.
Like Winmill, Holmes is worth listening to because his precious metals fund is also consistently one of the top performers. His Gold and Precious Metals Fund is up 40.1% a year over the past three years. Their funds do 6 to 7 percentage points a year better than the average for their peers.
How gold goes 50% higher
If they are right about the move up to $1,500, that should drive some of their favourite gold and silver stocks significantly higher over the next year or two. Here’s the short list: Goldcorp (G.TO), Kinross Gold (K.TO), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N), Pan American Silver (PAAS.O) and Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO).
Another way to go, of course, is to simply buy shares of their funds.
Here’s a look at why they think gold will see $1,500 within a year or so.
Reason No. 1: The US dollar’s value is declining. “Gold is attractive as a safe haven when the (US) dollar is declining,” says Holmes. But why will the greenback continue to weaken? Above all, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been slashing interest rates dramatically, and it may reduce them even more. This makes investors move money to other countries — especially emerging-market economies that have higher interest rates and higher growth rates. As investors move away from U.S. assets, they sell the dollar and push it down. And they buy other currencies, pushing them up against the dollar.
Investors are also losing confidence in the U.S. economy and U.S.-based investments because of the growing federal deficit, the subprime mess and concerns about the Fed’s new role in bailing out investment banks exposed to too much subprime debt.
Reason No. 2: More U.S. inflation on the way. To see where inflation is headed, just take a peek upstream in the production process, says Winmill. Prices on intermediate goods — or stuff that is midway through production — advanced 8.8% during the 12 months through the end of February. Prices on early-stage “crude” goods were up 24%, according to producer price index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). “I see those price increases coming into the economy,” says Winmill. “That is inflation in the pipeline.” Prices on finished goods gained 6.4% in the same time frame.
Consumers, of course, are already aware that prices for food and gasoline have gone up. But as inflation persists, they’ll hit a pivotal point in their thinking, when they switch to expecting prices to continue climbing. “That will trigger a psychology of investing in gold as a place to hang on in an inflationary environment,” believes Winmill.
Reason No. 3: Investors will seek greater safety. Inflation is already so high that investors are losing money in traditional “safe” investments like U.S. government bonds. Consumer prices are advancing by about 4% a year, according to the BLS, while two-year U.S. Treasury bonds are yielding around 1.6%. So investors who now buy two-year government bonds will be losing 2.4% of their money per year. If the Fed lowers rates even more and inflation advances, the negative returns on government bonds will only widen.
“Historically this has been very good for any kind of hard asset, and particularly gold,” says Winmill. “In a negative interest rate environment you don’t want to hold bonds because you lose purchasing power.” Winmill sees plenty of room for a shift in the flow of investing dollars toward gold, because only a minuscule amount of money in managed accounts is dedicated to investments in commodities.
Meanwhile, people continue to lose lots of money on investments like real estate and debt instruments backed by subprime mortgages — which will keep scaring them into buying perceived safe assets like gold. “There is massive deflation in real estate and financial assets, and gold has traditionally done well when there are concerns about deflation,” says Holmes.
Reason No. 4: Oil is getting pricier. Holmes points out that that over the past five years, gold and oil prices have moved in sync 90% of the time. The reason: When oil-producing countries take in more money because oil prices go up, they diversify by investing in gold. Typically, this creates a 10-to-1 relationship between the price of an ounce of gold and a barrel of oil. Thus $1,000 gold makes sense when a barrel of oil is $100. But that ratio can jump to 15 to 1 when geopolitical turmoil drives other investors to the safety of gold, says Holmes.
He thinks oil could trade as high as $125-$130 a barrel this year because of a basic imbalance between demand from emerging economies and short supply due to a lull in exploration investments during the 1990s, when oil prices were much lower. “If oil were to run to $125 a barrel because of a geopolitical event, gold would easily go to $1,500 an ounce,” says Holmes.
Reason No. 5: Gold should follow other commodities. Since so many other metals, including copper and oil, have smashed their inflation-adjusted price records, why shouldn’t gold follow, asks Holmes. If it does break through its inflation-adjusted high, set in 1980, it would trade north of $2,000 an ounce.
Here’s a closer look at the five precious metals plays that should benefit from a spike in the price of gold to $1,500 an ounce.
Goldcorp
Both Winmill and Holmes count the Vancouver, B.C.-based Goldcorp among their favourites. Winmill likes it because it is the fastest-growing low-cost producer among “senior” mining companies, or those that have producing mines.
The company expects 50% growth in gold production over next five years, driven by development of two promising Mexican projects called Peñasquito and Los Filos, and expansion of its Red Lake mine in Ontario (180 kilometres north of Dryden). Factoring in proceeds from the sale of mining byproducts like zinc and copper, the company should produce gold at $250 an ounce for the next five years, says Winmill.
Goldcorp is relatively safe because its holdings are in politically stable North American countries. It also has no insurance in the form of advance sales of gold meant to protect against a price decline. That’s good for investors if gold goes to $1,500 an ounce, because they will get the full benefit of the price increase.
Kinross Gold
Like Goldcorp, Kinross Gold is a low-cost producer about to see rapid growth, which is why it places high on Winmill’s list of favourite gold stocks. New projects in Brazil, Russia and Washington state should help increase production by 60% in 2009, compared to last year. Gold production costs (factoring in proceeds from the sale of silver, considered a byproduct of gold mining) should fall to $335 an ounce or less. One risk: The Kinross project in Russia could face interference or even a takeover by the Russian government.
“The operations in Russia come on line in the second quarter, and that is usually when the Russians make their move,” says Winmill.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
The world’s largest producer of molybdenum and one of the largest producers of copper, Freeport-McMoRan also has an estimated 41 million ounces in gold and 231 million ounces of silver reserves. That makes it one of the bigger players in the precious metals space.
Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia has the largest single gold reserve in the world. Freeport-McMoRan’s stock still looks cheap, despite healthy gains in the last year. It trades for about 7.1 times expected 2009 earnings, compared with 15.4 times 2009 earnings for other large companies that produce both copper and gold, according to Citigroup (C.N) analyst John Hill, who has a buy rating and a $125 price target on the stock.
Two silver plays
Because silver will move up in price for the same reasons that bullion does, our two gold gurus put two silver producers at the top of the list of their favourite precious metals plays.
Winmill likes Pan American Silver, which he says looks cheap considering that the company expects production to increase by 14% to 19.5 million ounces this year. Bear Stearns (BSC.N) analyst Michael Dudas thinks production could advance to 25 million ounces by 2009 — one reason he has a $40 price target on the stock.
Holmes likes Silver Wheaton, which makes money by purchasing silver from miners in long-term contracts and then reselling it. The company has contracts to purchase silver for about $3.90 an ounce, according to Morningstar analyst Vahid Fathi. That looks pretty good given that a move in gold to $1,500 suggests silver would sell for $30 an ounce.
By Michael Brush
The Competition Issues in Iron Ore
SYDNEY — Mining giant BHP Billiton’s $128-billion (U.S.) bid for rival Rio Tinto could raise competition issues in iron ore, Australia’s antitrust regulator said on Friday.
With mines across Australia’s ore-rich Pilbara region, Rio Tinto and BHP are the world’s second- and third-largest iron ore producers, respectively, behind Brazil’s Vale, and analysts reckon a combined group would control about 35 per cent of the world’s seaborne traded iron ore.
In a nine-page “statement of issues” ahead of its October 1 ruling, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which can order companies to sell assets if it thinks they have too big a hold in one sector, highlighted the likely impact of a deal on the iron ore trade and, in particular, on Australian steelmakers, but saw no major competition issues in copper, gold, uranium, bauxite or alumina.
“I don’t think that’s a surprise to the two companies, particularly BHP … that iron ore would be the one area the regulators would be looking at very closely,” said Ken West, a partner at Perennial Growth Management.
“But the Pilbara is the one they don’t want to be tampered with. If the regulators don’t show flexibility, then the Pilbara could become a deal breaker,” Mr. West said.
The European Commission last month opened an in-depth investigation into BHP’s hostile 3.4 shares for each Rio share bid – which Rio insists is too low – with a list of sweeping price and competition concerns from iron ore to aluminum.
Regulators in the United States, where the proposed deal would have less market impact, cleared the bid last month. The EU has set a December 9 date for its ruling.
BHP has filed documents with competition authorities in China, where new anti-monopoly laws have been introduced.
A BHP spokeswoman said the company was “continuing to engage constructively with the commission on this matter.”
“The ACCC’s market inquiries indicated that the proposed acquisition may raise competition concerns in relation to the global seaborne supply of iron ore lump and iron ore fines,” the watchdog said in a statement posted on its website.
It warned that less competition would likely drive up global iron ore prices, pushing up costs for Australia’s steelmakers.
“In particular, Vale would be the only other supplier involved in annual benchmark price negotiations,” the ACCC noted.
This year, BHP and Rio won identical prices for their ore at prices higher than Vale after negotiations with customers from Asia steel mills.
The China Iron and Steel Association said this month it opposed BHP buying Rio, saying a combined entity would monopolize a large portion of the supply of much-needed ore and hurt consumers. BHP argues a combined group would control 27 per cent of global seaborne traded iron ore.
If BHP wins Rio, it would be the world’s second-biggest takeover after mobile phone giant Vodafone’s purchase of Mannesmann in 2000, and would create a $360-billion company – roughly the same size as Microsoft Corp.
By 0840 GMT, BHP shares traded in London were up 0.6 per cent at 16.80 pounds in a broader market up 0.9 per cent.
With mines across Australia’s ore-rich Pilbara region, Rio Tinto and BHP are the world’s second- and third-largest iron ore producers, respectively, behind Brazil’s Vale, and analysts reckon a combined group would control about 35 per cent of the world’s seaborne traded iron ore.
In a nine-page “statement of issues” ahead of its October 1 ruling, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which can order companies to sell assets if it thinks they have too big a hold in one sector, highlighted the likely impact of a deal on the iron ore trade and, in particular, on Australian steelmakers, but saw no major competition issues in copper, gold, uranium, bauxite or alumina.
“I don’t think that’s a surprise to the two companies, particularly BHP … that iron ore would be the one area the regulators would be looking at very closely,” said Ken West, a partner at Perennial Growth Management.
“But the Pilbara is the one they don’t want to be tampered with. If the regulators don’t show flexibility, then the Pilbara could become a deal breaker,” Mr. West said.
The European Commission last month opened an in-depth investigation into BHP’s hostile 3.4 shares for each Rio share bid – which Rio insists is too low – with a list of sweeping price and competition concerns from iron ore to aluminum.
Regulators in the United States, where the proposed deal would have less market impact, cleared the bid last month. The EU has set a December 9 date for its ruling.
BHP has filed documents with competition authorities in China, where new anti-monopoly laws have been introduced.
A BHP spokeswoman said the company was “continuing to engage constructively with the commission on this matter.”
“The ACCC’s market inquiries indicated that the proposed acquisition may raise competition concerns in relation to the global seaborne supply of iron ore lump and iron ore fines,” the watchdog said in a statement posted on its website.
It warned that less competition would likely drive up global iron ore prices, pushing up costs for Australia’s steelmakers.
“In particular, Vale would be the only other supplier involved in annual benchmark price negotiations,” the ACCC noted.
This year, BHP and Rio won identical prices for their ore at prices higher than Vale after negotiations with customers from Asia steel mills.
The China Iron and Steel Association said this month it opposed BHP buying Rio, saying a combined entity would monopolize a large portion of the supply of much-needed ore and hurt consumers. BHP argues a combined group would control 27 per cent of global seaborne traded iron ore.
If BHP wins Rio, it would be the world’s second-biggest takeover after mobile phone giant Vodafone’s purchase of Mannesmann in 2000, and would create a $360-billion company – roughly the same size as Microsoft Corp.
By 0840 GMT, BHP shares traded in London were up 0.6 per cent at 16.80 pounds in a broader market up 0.9 per cent.
The Production of platinum and palladium by The Stillwater Mining Company during the second quarter of 2008
Press releases
The Stillwater Mining Company produced 126,200 oz of platinum and palladium during the second quarter of 2008.
The figure is a reduction on the 133,100 oz produced in the same quarter during 2007.
However, production at the Stillwater Mine increased to 88,100 oz, up from the 84,500 oz produced in the same period last year.
The East Boulder Mine saw production dip from 48,600 oz to 38,100 oz in the second quarter of last year.
A lack of workers with the necessary skills was the reason behind the poor performance at the East Boulder Mine operation, the firm said in a statement.
Francis McAllister, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, said that the group was re-assessing its production expectations for the coming year.
“We now believe production for full-year 2008 will be in a range between 515,000 and 525,000 oz,” he said.
Smelting and refining facilities in Columbus produced 115,000 oz of platinum group metals, an increase of 25 per cent.
The Stillwater Mining Company produced 126,200 oz of platinum and palladium during the second quarter of 2008.
The figure is a reduction on the 133,100 oz produced in the same quarter during 2007.
However, production at the Stillwater Mine increased to 88,100 oz, up from the 84,500 oz produced in the same period last year.
The East Boulder Mine saw production dip from 48,600 oz to 38,100 oz in the second quarter of last year.
A lack of workers with the necessary skills was the reason behind the poor performance at the East Boulder Mine operation, the firm said in a statement.
Francis McAllister, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, said that the group was re-assessing its production expectations for the coming year.
“We now believe production for full-year 2008 will be in a range between 515,000 and 525,000 oz,” he said.
Smelting and refining facilities in Columbus produced 115,000 oz of platinum group metals, an increase of 25 per cent.
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