Iron Ore News; Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Calls For Export Ban

Iron Ore News; Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Calls For Export Ban

The Indian state of Chhattisgarh is to seek a ban on the export of iron ore.
The state’s Chief Minister, Raman Singh, told the IANS news agency that he was re-iterating calls for a ban, which he first made six years ago.

“It is not a wise decision at all to hand over the country's limited natural resources,” Chief Minister Singh said.

“Export of iron ore is a kind of crime against the nation because the country's limited stocks are getting exhausted everyday. It must be preserved for domestic steel industry which is on a massive expansion.”

The call came ahead of a meeting of a 10-member ministerial panel headed by the country’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee this Thursday to consider a new bill for the development and regulation bill of mines and minerals.

India is the world’s third-largest iron ore supplier, exporting around half of its 226 million tonne annual output but calls for a ban have grown in the wake of reports of illegal exports of iron ore, especially from Karnataka. Left-wing parties this week called for a ban while the country’s Steel Minister, Vir Bhadra Singh is also in favour of a ban.

Steel Minister Vir Bhadra Singh last week came out in favour of a ban, saying the country should conserve its precious minerals and export value-added products.

Lead News: Bulgaria's Intertrust Seeks $150m

Lead News: Bulgaria's Intertrust Seeks $150m

Bulgarian lead and zinc producer Intertrust Holdings is seeking $150 million to upgrade its smelters and double output and sales.

The company’s Olovno Tzinkov Komplex AD smelter will be completed by 2013 and will help almost double annual sales to $220 million.

Bulgaria’s Environment Ministry approved a 40 million-euro ($51.7 million) upgrade of the lead smelter a week ago and the company now has to raise the funding said Chairman Valentin Zahariev.

Intertrust is also building an 80 million-euro galvanized steel plant near Sofia on the site of an old pipe factory, with planned output of 600,000 tons of galvanized steel a year.

“We need to raise a total of $150 million to complete our investment projects,” said Mr Zahariev. “We have applied for financing from U.S. funds for part of it. We will also consider other forms including an IPO, corporate bonds or bank loans. It all depends on the cost.”

Intertrust has already borrowed 85 million euros in loans from Swiss banks to upgrade its zinc smelter, he said. Asturiana de Zinc SA, a Spanish zinc producer, designed the project and supplied the equipment.

The modernised zinc smelter will increase output from 24,000 tons in 2009 to 45,000 tons, while the lead smelter will double output to 60,000 tons.

“The modernization of the two units will help cut pollution, reduce greenhouse emissions, improve the quality of all of our products, double output and cut costs,” said Mr Zahariev.

Apart from the Gorubso mines in Madan in southern Bulgaria, Intertrust also runs five metal, tool and engineering plants in Serbia. Eight-five percent of its output is exported, mostly to Italy, Germany, Austria and Turkey.

Ferrochrome News: IFM Sees Q4 Contract Price At Current Level

Ferrochrome News: IFM Sees Q4 Contract Price At Current Level

South African ferrochrome producer IFM says it does not see ferrochrome contract prices falling below current levels for the fourth quarter. Earlier this month contract prices for the third quarter were set at USD1.30 a pound, a fall of 4 per cent on the second quarter price but a smaller fall than had been expected. Spot market prices are around USD1.18 a pound, down from a level of around USD2.50 a pound in April 2009.

IFM sells much of its output through contracts and into the spot market in Europe and the USA.

Mr David Kovarsky CEO of IFM said that "We are happy with the price. At the moment we're going through a de stocking cycle but it doesn't reflect end consumption. By the end of this quarter we'll start seeing a revival in demand as stainless steel production starts increasing. I wouldn't expect it Q4 price to be lower than USD 1.30."

Mr Kovarsky said that "We are seeing a contraction in global steel production globally, particularly in China and Europe. The immediate challenge is volume in this quarter but I think they will pick up in the next quarter."
He added that IFM’s output for 2010 will be lower than its capacity of 265,000 tonnes due to the global economic downturn.

Coking Coal News: Aquila Project Could Produce 1.5m tpy

Australian coal miner Aquila Resources hopes to produce hard coking coal in 2013 from its Washpool project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

A feasibility study for the mine has just been completed and the miner is hoping production costs will be an at port price of around A$106 a tonne, although this price excludes royalty payments.

“The feasibility study confirms the status of the Washpool hard coking coal project area as a major coking coal resource and provides confirmation that this resource is economically recoverable with opencut mining methods,” said Aquila executive chairman Tony Poli.

Aquila said it would require A$320m of capital investment in the project with construction commencing in 2012. Washpool would be able to produce 1.6m tonnes of high-quality hard coking coal for a period of 25 years. Expected future cash flows from the mine over its expected life span would be $364m a tonne with an internal rate of return of 30 per cent.

Coal from the project will be exported via the Wiggins Island coal terminal at the port of Gladstone, Queensland.

The Washpool product would be hard coking coal with very strong coking coal properties and a higher-than-specification ash content.

Copper News - Zijin Closes Plant After Leak

Copper News - Zijin Closes Plant After Leak

Zijin Mining Group Co. has closed a copper plant at Shanghang, in China’s Fujian province, after a “substantial leakage of waste water” was discovered by government investigators.

A plant manager, deputy plant manager and environmental safety officer at the Zijinshan Copper Mine plant were detained by police, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. Duties of the deputy plant manager and environmental safety officer have been suspended.

Zijin could face fines of around 500m yuan (US$70m) as well as suffering losses of around 700m yuan (US$100m) as a result of the leak.

Fujian provincial authorities plan to legal action against government officials and Zijin executives, according to the Xinhua News Agency after the company ignored an order issued last September to repair a reservoir leak.

Zijin also plans to invest 100 million yuan (US$14m) in a water plant the state is building near to its mine.

The company could be fined 500m yuan by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for not immediately disclosing the pollution, while lost production could cost it another 350m yuan with compensation to local fishermen affected by the leak costing a further 350m on top of that.