Source: Mining Weekly
Posted: 19/03/2010 Holders of ATHABASCA POTASH shares and options have approved the acquisition of the company by BHP BILLITON, the company said yesterday. shareholders approved the arrangement at a special meeting yesterday. BHP has agreed to buy ATHABASCA for $8.35/share. The companies will apply for a final court order in Saskatchewan today, and expect the transaction to close early next week. ATHABASCA shares will be delisted from the TSX a few days later. ATHABASCA's flagship Burr project is located next to BHP's Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan, and the smaller firm holds one of the largest exploration permit areas in the Saskatchewan basin.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 19/03/2010 BHP BILLITON's Kwinana nickel refinery in Western Australia might not be restarted for 2 weeks after having been shut down on Monday, the group said yesteday. A lack of hydrogen gas had caused the shutdown. BHP declined to say whether nickel shipments would be affected. The refinery was shut after BHP's own hydrogen plant at the site ran into trouble and alternative sources for the gas weren't available. BHP's Nickel West operations produced 59 400 tons of nickel concentrate in the six months to Dec.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 19/03/2010 BHP BILLITON remained "cautious" about the state of the global recovery as governments wound back stimulus measures, outgoing chairman DON ARGUS said yesterday. ARGUS said BHP was confident it could finalise its proposed joint iron ore venture with RIO TINTO later this year. He said the firm was mindful that most countries had difficult decisions to make regarding a wind back of stimulus packages, against the backdrop of financial services sector reform. ARGUS said it was imperative that policy and tax changes by governments be well understood and not hinder investment or capacity for economic growth. iron ore and metallurgical coal exports to China and the rest of Asia were key to BHP's growth strategy, which would see capex of about A$20bn - including a $5.8bn equalisation payment for the Western Australian iron ore production JV with RIO TINTO.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 18/03/2010 A mineworker at HARMONY GOLD'S Tshepong mine died in a rockfall on Wednesday, the company said. The incident occured at approx. 1.45am in the development end, 2077m below the surface. The department of mineral resources stopped blasting operations at the mine to conduct a risk assessment, and management together with the DMR had commenced investigations, HARMONY said.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 18/03/2010 DRDGOLD's 74% owned BLYVOORUITZICHT GOLD MINING COMPANY has requested it be lifted from judicial management. The company yesterday said it had filed papers with its joint judicial managers ahead of a meeting with them on Mar. 18, supporting the view that the mine should be lifted from judicial management. It said between Nov. 2009 and Feb. 2010, BLYVOOR had made a net profit of R33.6m and generated net cash flows after capex of R27.5m. It said the majority of pre-judicial managment debts had been paid in full and all trade creditors were back on normal terms. On Tuesday the High Court in Johannesburg granted a 28-day extension to the judicial management order, in order for the report to be filed.
Source: Fin24.com
Posted: 18/03/2010 SAKE24 is requesting a court order that will force ESKOM to reveal the prices at which electricity is supplied to BHP BILLITON's aluminium smelters, Hillside in Richards Bay and Mozal outside Maputu. The court documents for the application were submitted to the Rand High Court in Johannesburg earlier this week and will be served on ESKOM during the course of the week. The two smelters alone consume 5.68% of ESKOM's basic power generation capacity and from all indications received power at less than ESKOM's cost price. Hillside alone consumes 1 200 MW, which makes it the third-largest single electricity consumer in the country after Cape Town and Durban. Electricity at the two smelters are determined wholly or partly by the aluminium price on the LME according to a highly secret formula in terms of a contract signed in the early 1990's. The agreement is valid for several decades. According to SAKE24's information, the two contracts are wholly responsible for the R9.5bn loss ESKOM recorded in the year to end-Mar. 2009. The newspaper wants to know what portion of this loss is owing to the provision of electricity to the two smelters as well as what the possible annual losses in the future will be - it believes it is in the public interest to know.
Source: Mining Weekly
Posted: 17/03/2010 The High Court of SA has granted a 28-day extension to the judicial management order issued for DRDGOLD's Blyvooruitzicht mine in Nov. 2009. The judicial managers now had until Apr. 13 to compile and file a report on the affairs of the mine. An interim report was supposed to have been submitted by the judicial managers on Tuesday. The mine was placed under judicial management last year after posting a R27m loss, but in Feb. DRDGOLD CEO NIEL PRETORIUS said the mine was on tract to emerge from this by March.
Source: Mining Weekly
Posted: 17/03/2010 GOLDPLAT has entered into an agreement with ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI to buy gold-bearing materials, which it planned to process at its Tema processing facility in Ghana. The Gold Recovery Ghana business would acquire fine carbon and mill liners, which were byproducts from the mining process, from ANGLOGOLD's Obuasi and Iduapriem operations, for processing. Stockpiles of these materials have accumulated at the two operations and the first load would be delivered to GRG at the beginning of April.
Source: Mining Weekly
Posted: 17/03/2010 SIMMER & JACK MINES is taking decisive action to put its FIRST URANIUM charge on a new financial trajectory. DEON VAN DER MESCHT was sent to Canada as interim president of FIRST URANIUM to lead initiatives aimed at recapitalising the company. VAN DER MESCHT replaced GORDON MILLER, who came under intense pressure from BEE shareholder VULISANGO last year to quit as SIMMERS CEO. SIMMERS today formalised the appointment of NICO SCHOEMAN as interim SIMMERS CEO. A Sens announcement indicates that MILLER has severed all ties with the group, having also resigned as a director of FIRST URANIUM. The board of FIRST URANIUM will be restructured following the company's recapitalisation. SIMMERS can appoint three FIRST URANIUM directors and GOLD WHEATON will be entitled to nominate one of the remaining four independent directors.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 17/03/2010 ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI is the world's largest hedge book after rival BARRICK GOLD closed out the remainder of its gold fixed price forward sales in the last quarter of last year. According to a report by GFMS, BARRICK was the most active of the gold producers for the second consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2009. Following a 2.50m oz reduction in Q3, BARRICK closed out the remainder of its fixed price gold forward sales contracts amounting to a de-hedge of 2.90 Moz in Q4 2009. This left the company unhedged. The second largest cut came from ANGLOGOLD, which continued its campaign to reduce and manage its remaining hedge book. ANGLOGOLD's reduction in Q4 amounted to 0.44 Moz, which represented a reduction over and above the scheduled maturity profile of the company at end-Sep. ANGLOGOLD now holds the largest hedge book, standing at a delta adjusted 3.49 Moz, but promised that its de-hedging would continue.
Source: Business Report
Posted: 17/03/2010 ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI is aiming to complete the required safety training at its Moab Khotsong mine in SA by the end of the week and hopes to resume production shortly thereafter, the company said yesterday. Mining had been halted following a fatal accident on Monday.
Source: Business Day
Posted: 16/03/2010 ANGLO AMERICAN yesterday threw down the gauntlet to competitors, saying it was hungry for opportunities and ready to benefit from the next commodities boom. Chairman JOHN PARKER spoke of how the group had been restructured to introduce a new operating model that was designed to make ANGLO "nimble, lean and fit". The company was now clear on its strategic priorities, and focused on the commodities it considers will give it the best mix for the future. PARKER said ANGLO's bold restructuring of the group had enabled it to become a more effective organisation, and there was now a new sense of purpose for the group. He said the road map for ANGLO under CEO CYNTHIA CARROLL was now clear and what remained was to create and enchance shareholder value. Analysts believe CARROLL will be under greater pressure to deliver on the strategy, from shareholders who were last year annoyed when ANGLO decided against paying dividends in a bid to conserve cash. PARKER said a resumption of dividend payments was a key priority for his board.
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