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Are Glencore Making Mega-Merger Moves?
Miners blast the rise of unions, uncertainty clouds Kakula and the copper market
The Pre-Start
Meeka shared a development update, with commissioning targeted for mid-June as plant expansion works near completion and ore is stockpiled (MEK)
NRW’s Primero has been awarded a contract by Rio for Hope Downs 2 NPI facilities worth $157m (NWH)
Gorilla published further drill results from the Mulwarrie project, with parallel gold lodes discovered and mineralisation grown to 2.5km strike (GG8)
Rumble released a Western Queen update, with mining studies, permitting applications and 3rd party processing discussions all underway (RTR)
Lunnon intersected 15m @ 1.73g/t in sterilisation drilling, 100m north-west of Lady Herial (LM8)
Westgold appointed Ivan Mullany (ex-Newmont, De Grey) as an independent NED (WGX)
High Grade It
Glencore has shifted over $30B in foreign assets into an Australian subsidiary in a huge restructuring designed for a potential mega-merger (AFR)
Miners have blasted the rising union power as a significant threat to productivity, with ABS data showing stagnation (Australian)
Bob Katter says the shutdown of Glencore’s Mount Isa and Townsville facilities is an “impending emergency” (MNN)
BHP is appealing against a Fair Work decision that ordered the reinstatement of a miner sacked for punching a co-worker (Australian)
China’s declining steel demand is sweeping through related markets, with prices of the coking coal used in blast furnaces plunging to 2016 lows (Bloomberg)
Chris Ellison shrugged off a MinRes downgrade, to go on a haul road charm offensive at this week’s investor visit (AFR)
The status of the Kakula mine remains clouded in uncertainty, after seismic activity caused flooding underground, shocking the copper market (Bloomberg)
Korean battery makers LG & Samsung reportedly plan to install LFP battery production lines at their respective US plants, retrofitting NCM designs (MNN)
The Victorian gov’t has approved Viva Energy’s proposed LNG import terminal in Geelong in a significant policy pivot (Australian)
Goldman touted gold & oil as hedges against inflation in long-term portfolios (Bloomberg)
Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Is Glencore a bid target? (MNN) Explores the likelihood of a Rio-GLEN deal
Cobalt Blue executed a contract with Glencore to provide cobalt hydroxide feedstock to its Kwinana cobalt refinery (COB)
RareX & Gega Elements entered an agreement to develop vertically integrated gallium extraction & refining capability (REE)
Rattlin’ the Tin
Pacgold has raised $5.6m for exploration (PGO)
Word on the Decline
We think that Vault is running a process to sell its Mount Monger operation. It turns out a gold bull market is an opportune time to sell a gold mine after all!
Now we wonder, what about Sugar Zone?
Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
Today’s Top Tweet
Devil’s in the Detail
From Rumble’s release this morning, you’ll see the company is considering primary royalty finance:
There’s more work for us to do in this space (so don’t take this as gospel) but we think one of the big limitations of primary royalty finance in Australia has to do with the tax implications: it can often be treated as ‘equity’ meaning the recipient of the upfront proceeds then has to pay a bunchg of that away in tax straight away!
Maybe we should have more compassion for Deterra after all…
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