Copper King Has Stomach to Keep Producing, Spending in Rout – by Jesse Riseborough and Agnieszka De Sousa (Bloomberg News – October 13, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

For copper bulls betting on more mining companies cutting production like Glencore Plc, the news out of Chile isn’t good.

Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, is maintaining output targets and warning investors not to expect any dramatic changes to its record investment plans.

Codelco’s mines probably will remain profitable even as concern over Chinese demand is set to keep prices low in the coming years, Chairman Oscar Landerretche said in an interview Monday in London. While there will be minor revisions, the majority of a $25 billion, five-year investment plan to help replace aging deposits will be rolled out as planned, he said.

“We will have to rationalize, but the projects, we will do,” he said, adding that a review of the state-owned Chilean miner’s investment budget will be completed later this month. “One shouldn’t expect big dramatic changes in the strategic position.”

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Rio Boss Sam Walsh Says No Interest in Bidding for Glencore – by Scott Patterson and Alex MacDonald (Wall Street Journal – October 13, 2015)

http://www.wsj.com/

Businesses are not well-aligned and operate in different geographic areas

LONDON— Rio Tinto PLC Chief Executive Sam Walsh said he isn’t interested in making a bid for Glencore PLC despite the sharp decline in the embattled Swiss miner’s stock in the past few months.

Mr. Walsh said in an interview Tuesday that he doesn’t think Rio’s and Glencore’s businesses are well aligned and that Glencore operates in different geographic areas than Rio.

“It is a different culture” at Glencore, Mr. Walsh said. A Glencore spokesman declined to comment.

Rio last year rebuffed a proposal by Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg to merge the two mining giants. Industry watchers thought Mr. Glasenberg would likely make another move for Rio this year, but the company’s sharp stock decline has sidelined any plans for big deals at Glencore for now.

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Nickel prices rebound, boosted by speculation of Glencore output cuts – by James Regan and MElanie Burton (Reuters U.K. – October 13, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE – Oct 13 Nickel prices have rebounded after dropping to a near seven-year low last week, buoyed by market speculation that heavily indebted miner and trader Glencore Plc could curb output following cuts to its copper and zinc production.

Glencore is the world’s fifth-biggest producer of nickel, with operations in Australia, Canada, Norway, New Caledonia, and Dominican Republic, much of which was acquired in its 2013 takeover of Xstrata.

Glencore, whose shares have been hammered by worries about its debt burden, declined to comment on the speculation.

“In nickel, as in copper and zinc, an output cut by Glencore could have an immense impact,” said Minelife commodities analyst Gavin Wendt.

“It would not only send the right message to Glencore’s investors and bankers, it would be saving the company money and probably lift the nickel price in the process.”

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Glencore to sell copper mines in Australia, Chile – by OLIVIA KUMWENDA-MTAMBO AND SONALI PAUL (Reuters U.K. – October 12, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/

LONDON/MELBOURNE – Glencore (GLEN.L) plans to sell copper mines in Australia and Chile as the mining and trading company aims to reduce a debt burden accumulated in an asset buying spree that has shaken confidence in the Swiss-based firm.

Selling assets is one element of a broad plan to cut about a third of Glencore’s $30 billion (19.6 billion pounds) net debt and to regain the trust of investors after its shares tumbled to record lows this year amid weak global commodity prices.

Glencore said it would sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile after receiving interest from potential buyers.

“This will allow potential buyers to bid to purchase either one or both of the mines and may or may not result in a sale,” Glencore said in a statement on Monday.

A London-based analyst said the Cobar and Lomas Bayas mines together could fetch less than $300 million as they are very small.

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Cree community looks on warily as De Beers scours North for diamonds – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – October 10, 2015)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

With De Beers’ Victor Mine near Attawapiskat approaching the end of its lifespan, the company is looking farther north — causing a stir in Peawanuck, where residents are concerned about protecting their traditional lands.

WEENUSK FIRST NATION, ONT.—From a height of 300 metres, Jennifer Wabano looks out the window of the eight-seat float plane as it approaches the Winisk River watershed.

Wabano, a mother of 10, watches the mesmerizing landscape of the Hudson Bay Lowlands. String bogs resembling giant tiger stripes splashed across the land stretch for miles before giving way to fields of pristine, lime-green peatland that is thousands of years old. Scattered throughout the peat are hundreds of freshwater lakes of all shapes and sizes that were formed a millennium ago by retreating glaciers.

The lowlands are one of the world’s last untouched carbon storehouses, trapping the gases that warm the globe at an increasingly alarming rate. Bald eagles nest along the banks of the Winisk River. In summer, polar bears wander through town in search of food. Brook trout are caught in the mud flats of Hudson Bay. Migratory caribou and moose are staples in this community that continues to depend on the land for its existence.

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New bids likely after U.S. Steel Canada splits from parent company – by Greg Keenan (Globe and Mail – October 12, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The divorce between United States Steel Corp. and U.S. Steel Canada Inc. will likely lead to new bids for the Canadian unit, sources familiar with the restructuring say.

U.S. Steel Canada has been effectively cut loose from its parent company under a transition agreement announced last week that includes a promise that the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will not be a bidder if there is a second effort to sell the Canadian unit.

Potential bidders were put off during the first sales effort by a process they believed was skewed in favour of U.S. Steel, sources said. “There are people out there who want to rebid,” said one source involved in discussions about the future of U.S. Steel Canada. “Now, we have a sensible sales and restructuring process.”

The promise that U.S. Steel will not bid for the company means other purchasers don’t have to worry about a potential claim of more than $2-billion that U.S. Steel applied against the Canadian company and had been planning to use as credit in its own bid.

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Action against Vale rare: Mining watchdog – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – October 10, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The enforcement action Environment Canada took Thursday against Vale Canada Ltd. is very rare in Canada, says a spokeswoman for a mining watchdog group.

Environment Canada enforcement officers, with support from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, executed a search warrant at Vale’s engineering building Thursday. The warrant was part of an active Environment Canada investigation that began in November 2012, said Nathalie Huneault of Environment Canada.

The investigation relates to alleged violations of the general prohibition in the Fisheries Act, which prohibits the deposit of substances that are deleterious to fish into water frequented by fish, she said. Huneault said Environment Canada couldn’t comment further because the matter is under investigation.

Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said Environment Canada was on site Thursday “collecting information related to alleged infractions under the Fisheries Act that allegedly occurred in 2012. Vale is co-operating fully in providing the information required.”

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