Industrial News

Canadian miner Lundin on Wednesday posted a 71% drop in net earnings for the fourth quarter, which came in at $42.5-million, compared with $146.1-million a year ago. Profit took a hit after the TSX-listed company lost out on sales from the Aguablanca nickel-copper mine in Spain, and the company reported an impairment loss of $35.7-million for the asset. ...

While Elemental Minerals is sitting on what Northern Securities analyst Fadi Benjamin calls “the best potash project in Africa...hands down”, the biggest challenge facing the company is raising the $1.7-billion required to bring its Sintoukola deposit in the Republic of Congo RoC in to production. The TSX- and ASX-listed company aims to complete a prefeasibility study on the asset by August, with a bankable study following hot on its heels in the first quarter of next year. ...

Yamana Gold on Wednesday reported a net profit of $89.6-million for the fourth quarter – about 28% lower than the figure for the same period a year ago – after the TSX-listed miner took an $81-million impairment hit on investments. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $184-million or $0.25 a share for the quarter, compared with $171-million and $0.23 a share a year ago, and slightly above the $0.24 a share analysts were expecting. ...

Canadian miner Novagold said on Wednesday it has begun the process of trying to sell its 50% stake in the Galore Creek copper-gold project in British Columbia so that it can focus fully on its flagship Donlin gold project in Alaska. The company, which outlined the plan late last year, said it has begun talking with potential buyers and that it expects a sale by the end of the year. ...

South Africa’s international competitiveness will increasingly be dampened by the rapid rate at which the domestic electricity price is rising, Energy Intensive User Group chairperson Mike Rossouw said on the second day of the Africa Energy Indaba in Sandton. He said that, while electricity prices were steadily, and understandably, increasing across the world, the rapid rate of increase in South Africa’s electricity tariffs was not sustainable and manufacturing and mining investors were already looking elsewhere. ...

Zambia has brought in guidelines for mineral exports to allow State agencies to verify weight and content to enhance transparency in Africa's largest copper producer, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said. New President Michael Sata has expressed concerns that copper exporters are misrepresenting the amount of metal leaving the country. ...

Despite falling short on planned gold production, Africa-focused precious metals producer Pan African Resources reported record earnings for the six months ended December. CEO Jan Nelson on Wednesday attributed the strong performance to a high gold price, a significant effort to increase production at its Barberton gold mining operations (BGMOs) and effective cash cost management. ...

JSE-listed Witwatersrand Consolidated Gold Resources (Wits Gold) has applied for a right to mine gold, silver and uranium over its combined prospecting rights in the southern Free State goldfield, CEO Philip Kotze announced on Wednesday. The mining right covered a 149.65 km2 area and included the De Bron-Merriespruit (DBM), Bloemhoek, Robijn and Hakkies project areas. ...