India’s democracy in peril
Should India’s troubled democracy give way to an authoritarian, and more militaristic regime – should Australia be send ing India uranium, the fuel for its nuclear weapons? – Christina Macpherson
Australia’s next big problem: India’s democracy, SMH, May 21, 2012 Here’s a nasty thought: the big threat to Australia’s commodities-underwritten prosperity extending out to 2030 and beyond is India’s democracy. Much worse though is the threat that irresponsible democracy poses to India itself.
Present crises aside, Australia’s is supposed to live happily ever after thanks to India picking up the commodities demand slack as the Chinese economy matures, thus extending our resources boom for another decade or
two,….,
India barely has manufacturing industry thanks to a conspiracy of poisonous protectionism, stifling bureaucracy and
endemic corruption, never mind the gross waste of resources that is the caste system……
.Should the day arrive when one brand or another of authoritarianism – nationalistic, religious or military – is able to seize control through gross government failure, lack of demand for Australian coking coal could be the least of the region’s concerns. http://www.smh.com.au/business/australias-next-big-problem-indias-democracy-20120521-1z08u.html#ixzz1vYS6w3JG
Australian uranium company Paladin has to raise wages after African workers’ strike
Paladin agrees to hike salaries Daily Times, , 18 May 2012 Caroline Kandiero Paladin Energy Limited has agreed to review salaries for its local workers but in six months time following the kwacha devaluation.
Workers at Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga run by Paladin from Friday May 11 walked off the mine site in protest against the company’s refusal to agree to a demand to grant an immediate 66 percent pay increase following the recent 50 percent devaluation of the national currency….
http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/sports/6452-paladin-agrees-to-hike-salaries
Dubious future for uranium market – will BHP pull the plug on the Olympic Dam project?
projects such as the massive expansion of the Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in Australia and the potash development in Canada are far less certain…… Where the money is put will say a lot about their expectations for demand for specific commodities now and into the future.
Knives Are Out, But Will BHP and Rio Cut?, WSJ, By Robb M. Stewart, May 16, 2012, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have signaled that harder times lie ahead for global miners but have given little indication of where the cuts, if any, will come to the billions of dollars worth of mining projects that both have in the pipeline in Australia and globally.
Neither is backtracking on their long held view about China’s long-term demand for iron ore and coal, but it is now clear that not every expansion project is guaranteed to get off the ground in the current environment–and those that do will be phased in over a longer time period…
… “Clearly what we’ve seen over the last 12 months or so is that our projected rate of cash generation has changed. So on balance while we still want to invest throughout the cycle, it just means that our ability to do those projects will change as the cash flow generation has changed,” Marius Kloppers, chief executive of BHP, told a mining conference in Miami overnight…..
Jacques Nasser, the mining giant’s chairman, speaking in Sydney on
Wednesday made it even clearer: the US$80 billion over five years that
BHP has previously said would be invested on its mining and petroleum
businesses, is no longer a target. Continue reading
Investment fund manager relieved that BHP will delay expansion
Fund manager welcomes BHP’s capex pullback, THE AUSTRALIAN,BY:BARRY FITZGERALD , May 18, 2012 BHP Billiton’s move to wind back plans to spend $US80 billion ($80.5bn) over five years on growth projects has been applauded by the head of Perennial Investment Partners’ growth funds, Lee Mickelburough.
Mr Mickelburough was one of the few local investment managers to publicly criticise BHP’s big-bang growth plan after it was revealed by the company in February last year… subscribers only http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/fund-manager-welcomes-bhps-capex-pullback/story-e6frg9df-1226359363680
Negative investor sentiment delaying expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine?
the $10 billion initial expansion of Olympic Dam may be stretched out over a longer period, analysts and investors said….. BHP would have to seek an extension from the South Australian state government if it fails to commit to the Olympic Dam project by December, or else it would lose its approvals for the project….
BHP may delay at least two mega projects to rein in spending, By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE May 17 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, is likely to delay signing off on at least two mega projects after its chairman put the brakes on an $80 billion plan to grow the company’s iron ore, copper and energy operations, analysts say.
Slumping commodity prices and escalating costs have squeezed cash flows, pushing BHP to join rival Rio Tinto in reconsidering the pace of their long-term expansion in countries such as Australia and Canada. “The major message is: ‘We can’t approve anything right now. We don’t have a spare cent to spend,'” UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock said.
In BHP’s bleakest outlook yet, Chairman Jacques Nasser said on Wednesday the company expects commodity markets to deteriorate further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy. Continue reading
Despite government support, Olympic Dam expansion might not be economic for BHP
BHP cuts spending on major projects, Adelaide Now, Julian Swallow And Cameron England May 16, 2012 BHP Billiton has backed away from a commitment to spend $80 billion on 
major projects over the next five years, including the
Olympic Dam mine expansion. The miner said yesterday it would make a decision on the $25 billion Olympic Dam expansion by the end of the year but made it clear that its key assets globally would be competing for funds.
BHP had previously announced an $80 billion fund, but chairman Jac Nasser said this figure had been reconsidered.
“When (CEO Marius Kloppers) talked about that $80 billion … the environment was different,” Mr Nasser said….. BHP has already started spending $1.2 billion earmarked to kick-start the Olympic Dam expansion, which will eventually involve the company digging a 4km-long, 1km-deep, open-cut copper, gold and uranium mine in the state’s Far North. Continue reading
Share price downward spiral for Paladin uranium miner
Paladin slumps on big loss, The West Australian May 16, 2012, Shares in Paladin Energy slumped to a near seven-year low after the uranium miner reported a $137.6 million loss for the nine months to the end of March because of a $133 million writedown on its Kayelekera mine.
The company also reported a $17.5 million loss for the three months to the end of March, compared to a $13.5 million loss over the previous corresponding period…… Paladin’s share price has been under pressure since last year’s Fukushima nuclear emergency in Japan, which significantly weakened sentiment towards the uranium sector.
Investors have also been concerned by Paladin’s high debt levels.
French nuclear company AREVA moving into more uranium exploration in Australia
AREVA : Australia: a New Partnership Between AREVA and Mitsubishi Corporation in Mining Exploration 4 Traders, 05/15/2012 AREVA (Paris:AREVA) and Mitsubishi Corporation, through their respective subsidiaries Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (AFMEX) and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP), have decided to work together in a uranium exploration program in Australia.
Exploration will be conducted for several years across tens of thousands of square kilometers of Australia where little or no previous exploration has yet been undertaken….. http://www.4-traders.com/AREVA-8084917/news/AREVA-Australia-a-New-Partnership-Between-AREVA-and-Mitsubishi-Corporation-in-Mining-Exploration-14328584/
BHP Billiton putting Olympic Dam expansion on the back burner
Australia’s Copper and Mining Hopes Expected to be Staggered, Resource Investing News, By Shihoko Goto, 11 May 12 “…..Earlier this month, both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton suggested that they are reconsidering investment plans in an effort to lower risks amid rising costs and uncertain demand. Greater pressure from governments, particularly in developing countries, to tax mining companies as resource nationalism rises worldwide is also a concern……..
BHP’s head of aluminum, nickel, and corporate development, Alberto Calderon, said that the company will be staggering its expenditure in order to match its cash flows – which could slow down the development of mega-projects, including its Olympic Dam copper-uranium project – so as to maximize value, reduce risk, and balance short- as well as longer-term returns.
The Olympic Dam project has been slated to be taken to the board for approval this year, but BHP has stated that is will “live within its means.” Still, it is unlikely that the Olympic Dam project will remain a priority for BHP Billiton…. : http://resourceinvestingnews.com/36093-australias-copper-and-mining-hopes-expected-to-be-staggered.html#ixzz1ubSgvacP
Honeymoon uranium mine ‘not economic’ says Mitsui trading company
Mitsui pulls out of Honeymoon mine, BY: BARRY FITZGERALD The Australian May 10, 2012 JAPANESE
trading house Mitsui is pulling out of Australia’s newest uranium mine, the 340 tonnes a year Honeymoon operation in South Australia’s outback….. Mitsui took up its stake in Honeymoon in 2008. It was a first for the trading house, adding uranium to its better known portfolio of oil, coal and global liquefied natural gas interests.
Honeymoon started production in 2010 after expenditure of $138 million, with Mitsui’s entry cost being a $104m contribution to the capital cost. Its annual production makes it the smallest of Australia’s uranium mines behind ERA’s Ranger mine in Kakadu, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam in South Australia and Heathgate’s Beverley
mine in South Australia.
Mitsui’s exit follows the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, which led to meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. But a Mitsui spokesman said the decision to exit Honeymoon was not directly related to the Fukushima tragedy.
Mitsui “could not foresee sufficient economic return from the project”, he said.
Olympic Dam uranium uneconomic? might not proceed, but they will try to blame Australian government
the talk in the market is how big a write-down the company will have to make on these two acquisitions in the next 12 months, how much longer Kloppers will remain CEO, and what will happen to BHP’s pipeline of mega-growth projects.
Miners review plans as tax bites, The Age, Adele Ferguson, May 7, 2012 IN THE countdown to the federal budget miners have made a lot of noise about cost blowouts threatening tens of billions of dollars of projects due for final investment approval this year……..the budget may try and save itself billions of dollars a year by removing the diesel fuel excise rebate…..
The problem facing the government is a two-speed economy in which manufacturing, retail and tourism are being battered, while the mining sector and associated industries continue to do well but at a slowing pace.
This means if the government goes too far taxing the miners, it may give the miners the excuse they are looking for to pull the pin on some projects that are on the borderline of being uneconomic. Continue reading
Australian company selling award-winning solar panels to Bulgaria
REC Inks 20MW Bulgarian Solar Panel Deals, by Energy Matters, 7 May 12, http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3193 Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has signed agreements to supply 20 MW of its award-winning solar panels for facilities throughout Bulgaria.
The company says it signed a deal for 10 MW with ALMA-D Ltd. to provide its 240 watt Peak Energy series modules to a 6 MW solar farm in Kamenar and a 4 MW plant in Kameno – both near the Black Sea in Bulgaria.
REC also signed three separate contracts with local Bulgarian partner Elektro-Solar Systems Ltd. for 2, 3 and 5 MW solar electric generation plants; all of which will be constructed this year.
The company says the latest deals bring the total amount of REC modules installed in Bulgaria to 50 MW; boosting REC’s share in Bulgaria’s solar market to 15%.
Among the other accolades for REC – a nomination for 2010’s prestigious Intersolar Photovoltaics Award and a Solar Industry Award for Module Innovation, also in 2010.
REC’s Peak Energy solar modules have become a common sight on the rooftops of Australian homes after Melbourne-based Energy Matters introduced the panels to the local home solar power market in June 2010.
Energy Matters is a REC Platinum Partner – the only company in the Asia-Pacific region to achieve that standing. The company was also Australia’s first accredited REC Solar Professional and is able to offer an extra 2 years product warranty on REC solar panels the firm installs.
Woomera,South Australia – the leading state for bomb testing and uranium mining
Vast weapons test site set for mining By Tom Nightingale ABC Radio Sydney May 04, 2012 The Defence Department is changing access rules for mining companies in the potentially-lucrative Woomera weapons testing area.
The vast region in outback South Australia is used for sophisticated and secret weapons testing, but is also estimated to have tens of billions of dollars of uranium, copper, gold, iron ore and coal. A temporary agreement is being negotiated, while legislation for the longer term is set to go before Federal Parliament….
.. “The Gawler Craton is a geological anomaly that we think holds vast reserves of uranium, copper and gold. In terms of copper, about 70 per cent of Australia’s copper reserves are in the WPA, about 40 per cent of world’s uranium reserves are in Olympic Dam. We think there is more in WPA,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
ERA to close Ranger uranium mine, in context of 90% share price fall
Doncha love the headline from this Sydney Morning Herald article about the uranium company Energy Resources of Australia? Anyone would think that the company had wonderful prospects. But read the lines (you don’t need to read between the lines) – and you see the true picture – colossal share price loss, closure of the Ranger open pit mine, and a laughable future prospect for their plan for an underground uranium mine.
From a share price of $18.22 in May 2009, the stock lost more than 90 per cent of its value to be languishing at $1.15 earlier this year, with the company’s future being seriously questioned.
Kakadu’s miner for all seasons SMH, Peter Ker April 28, 2012 After three decades as a major uranium producer in Australia’s top end, Atkinson’s company Energy Resources of Australia is about to fill in its massive open pit and return the landscape to something resembling the nearby Kakadu National Park.
In a reversal of the typical path taken by mining companies, ERA is about to go from producer to explorer, gambling its future on the viability of a deposit deep beneath its existing operations….
… ERA has spent the past 30 years digging uranium from a small province surrounded on all sides by Kakadu National Park. The company operates here at the grace of the indigenous community, which has long been reluctant to see any more of its land developed for mining. Continue reading
BHP Billiton looking for more uranium in South Australia
BHP Steps Up Its Olympic Ambitions, WSJ, By Stephen Bell, April 24, 2012, BHP Billiton is a fully paid-up believer in the mining theory of ‘nearology’ if its latest Australian land grab is anything to go by. The Anglo-Australian miner has tabled applications for exploration licenses covering more than 10,000 square kilometers in arid regions surrounding the huge Olympic Dam copper-gold–uranium mine in South Australia state……
BHP is expected to make a decision this year on whether to proceed with an expansion at Olympic Dam, a project analysts estimate could cost close to US$30 billion. Continue reading
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