Boart Longyear: Departure of its chief executive and reports net loss 

Boart Longyear's chief executive Richard O'Brien will step down from the helm of the drilling services company.

The news came as Boart reported a blowout in its net losses to $US152.3 million for the half year to June 30, from a $US142.8 million loss a year earlier.

Chairman Marcus Randolph will take on the role of executive chairman, temporarily, while a search for a new chief executive begins.

Mr O'Brien said he will step down at a date yet to be determined and will continue to provide day-to-day leadership and oversight of the company until he leaves.

Mr O'Brien said that until his departure, he and Mr Randolph will work closely together to accelerate the company's improvement initiatives.

"My departure does not signal a significant change in the company's priorities," Mr O'Brien said on Monday.

He said that during 2013 and 2014, the company had worked hard to improve its cost structure and increase its balance sheet flexibility.

The company had cut about $US1.1 billion from spending since 2012 as it responded to changing market conditions, and recapitalised.

Mr O'Brien said the company's efforts to cut costs and improve productivity had the board's support.

Shares in Boart Longyear were 0.2 cents lower at 8.8 cents at 1248 AEST.

Boart Longyear said the first half of calendar 2015 continued to be a difficult period for the drilling industry and for the company because of stagnant prices for metals and other commodities, which reduced demand for drilling services.

First half revenue fell eight per cent as a result of lower prices for drilling services and unfavourable currency movements due to the stronger US dollar.

If the currency movements had not occurred, revenue would have fallen only one per cent.

"Our results, while disappointing overall, do reflect the general decline in worldwide exploration spending by the mining companies that we have experienced over the last several years," Mr O'Brien said.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/24/another-boart-loss-boss-step-down

Anglo American is to sell two Chilean copper mines to investment firm Audley Capital for $300 million, the company said on Monday, as it delevers its balance sheet to help combat a global slump in commodity prices.

Orion Mine Finance Group is principal co-investor with Audley for the open-pit Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines. The deal includes conditional future payments which could boost the eventual price tag by $200 million, Anglo American said.

Following a review last year Anglo American said it would divest assets that did not meet its return criteria. The investment by Audley Capital was led by John Mackenzie, a former chief executive of Anglo's copper business.

The potential follow-up payments are contingent on the copper price and also on whether the new investors decide to extend the sulphide life of the Mantoverde mine.

Banking sources had initially touted the mines as having a price tag of up to $1 billion. But as the copper price slid sources told Reuters that they could be worth less than $500 million, despite attracting interest from Glencore and X2, the investment vehicle led by former Xstrata CEO Mick Davis.

"The sale of our Norte copper assets to the Audley consortium represents a good outcome for Anglo American, both in terms of the up-front value achieved, the potential upside geared to the copper price and the continued delivery of our asset disposal programme," said Mark Cutifani, chief executive of Anglo American.

The mines are also closer to the end of their lives than the Zaldivar copper mine, in which Barrick Gold Corp sold a 50 percent stake last month for what analysts labelled as an expensive $1 billion.

Mantos Blancos has a reserve life of 10 years and Mantoverde five.

Amid a global commodity price slump, many miners have embarked on a series of asset sales in order to shore up balance sheets and maintain credit ratings.

"Although the transaction is only a modest step in delevering the balance sheet, the fact that Anglo American got another transaction done is a positive sign," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

The transaction is not subject to any regulatory conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/24/anglo-asset-audley-idUSL5N10Z0MO20150824

Indonesia gives tin miner PT Timah green light to resume exports

Indonesia's PT Timah, the country's top tin miner, has been granted government clearance to resume exports and will look to make its first shipment by early September, company and government officials said on Friday.

State-owned PT Timah halted exports when new rules for shipments were introduced on Aug. 1, and like other tin miners in the world's top exporter, has been embroiled in government red-tape ever since.

"It's done for the next six months," Didi Sumedi, director of export industry and mining products at the trade ministry told Reuters when asked whether Timah had received an export permit.

No other tin companies had been granted an export permit, he said.

Earlier this week, a senior official at Timah said some exports would likely restart by "early September" but that prices would have to rise above $17,000 a tonne for spot sales to resume.

Timah's Corporate Secretary Agung Nugroho repeated this to Reuters on Friday, adding that the company would now look to trade 100-200 tonnes on the Indonesia Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) on Monday.

Indonesia is tightening its rules for tin shipments in a fresh bid to crack down on environmental damage and smuggling, and to enforce payment of royalties and taxes on shipments.

The Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan, which runs one of the biggest copper mines in the province of Papua, has also halted its exports, as it adapts to new rules on using letters of credit from domestic banks.

Freeport is working with the Indonesian government and related parties so that exports can resume immediately, a spokesman said on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/indonesia-timah-exports-idUSL3N10W3LE20150821

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Sumitomo cuts Q4 LME aluminium price f'cast to $1,800 from $2,000

Japanese trading firm Sumitomo Corp has cut its forecast of London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium prices to $1,800 in the October-December quarter from its January estimate of $2,000 due to rising exports from China and a stronger U.S. dollar.

It also lowered its estimate of Japan's aluminium premiums, the surcharge for obtaining physical metal, for the quarter to $100 per tonne from its earlier prediction of $425.

Japan is Asia's top aluminium importer and the premiums for primary metal shipments PREM-ALUM-JP it agrees to pay each quarter over the LME cash price set the benchmark for the region.

"We had thought a combined price of the LME cash level and the premium would not slide much below $2,000. But it has fallen much more than anticipated," Shingi Yamagiwa, manager of Sumitomo's light metals trading team, told a small group of reporters on Friday.

Higher exports of aluminium products from China, some of which are used to remelt and used as raw material, were the biggest reason for the bigger-than-anticipated slide, he said.

China's exports of unwrought aluminium and products fell 5.3 percent in January-July from a year ago, but still stayed high at above 2.8 million tonnes.

A stronger dollar and cheaper average smelting cost thanks to a series of closures at high-cost smelters and increased output of new and low-cost smelters were also behind the market slump, Yamagiwa said.

The revised forecast, however, is still above current prices which are trading near 6-year lows at around $1,550 a tonne.

"It now looks that it will take longer for metal prices and premiums to recover. But the current level is too low," he said, adding the combined prices of the cash and the premium should eventually bounce back to $2,000-2,200 a tonne.

Japan's aluminium premiums for July-September shipments fell nearly $300 from the previous quarter, the sharpest such decline ever, to a six-year low of $100 as swelling Chinese exports piled more pressure on an already swamped market. The premiums hit a record high of $425 per tonne for January-March period.

The next round of quarterly pricing negotiations are set to begin later this month between Japanese buyers and global miners.

"We expect Japan's premiums to stay nearly flat at around $100 through next year, although it may temporarily fall $10 or $20 from the level," Yamagiwa said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/aluminium-sumitomo-corp-idUSL3N10W34320150821

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China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd - Asia's largest and the world's second-largest aluminium producer - has reported a 17.9-percent rise in net profit to 1.5 billion yuan ($234.8 million) for the first half of 2015, compared with a year ago, after the company categorically rejected recent charges of inflated sales by the company.

Aluminum extrusion accounted for 99.6 percent of the group's revenue, roughly at the same level for the corresponding period last year, the Hong Kong-listed company told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.

About 86.5 percent of the company's revenue, which remained flat at 7.89 billion yuan for the first half, came from sales on the Chinese mainland.

Some 13.5 percent of the revenue was from overseas sales, covering eight countries, including two new markets, Belgium and Holland. This contribution dropped by 31 percent year-on-year to 1.07 billion yuan, of which 770 million yuan came from the US - Zhongwang's conventionally major export destination.

The group last week rebutted point-by-point allegations by previously-unknown research house Dupre Analytics, which said in a 51-page online report that Zhongwang Chairman Liu Zhongtian and his family have been siphoning money and products from the company to other countries.

Calling the report "malicious" and "groundless", Liaoning province-based Zhongwang said the allegations were "factually incorrect and defy normal commercial logic".

The company's stock was suspended on July 30 after Dupre, whose company website was set up last month, published the report.

Before resuming trading, Zhongwang's stock price last stood at HK$3.31 - down by 33 percent from this year's peak in April. As trading in the stock resumed on Aug 13, the price dropped by up to 18 percent before paring losses to end 12-percent lower at HK$2.9.

Lu Changqing, Zhongwang's executive director and vice-president, said the short-seller's report was "no big deal" for the company, which owns the most state-of-the-art production equipment among industry peers and enjoys a real price advantage over its international competitors.

The attack by short-sellers comes as exports of aluminium from the mainland soar, reflecting severe overcapacity at mainland aluminium smelters.

Lu said it's unreasonable to argue that the global glut and aluminium's bleak prospects have been exacerbated by exports of the metal from the mainland, where 90 percent of aluminium products are consumed in the domestic market.

If there's something unreasonable, Lu pointed out, that is China, currently accounting for a staggering 56 percent of global aluminium production with growth of 18 percent in the first half of this year, still having no say in aluminum prices on the LME.

http://en.chinamining.com.cn/Companies/2015-08-21/1440123645d73417.html

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