China's slow boat
October 5 - 11, 2009
THINKING of raising significant funds from a Chinese investor? An Australian based resources company was happy to entertain just such a thought earlier this year, agreeing to place about half of what was a major equity raising (running into the tens of millions of dollars) with a Chinese firm. It was a debacle.
China's exit syndrome
September 28 - October 4, 2009
IT’S goodbye China, hello world for another foreign-listed company which previously had aspirations to be a significant gold producer in the Middle Kingdom. Leyshon Resources’ planned exit, at a satisfactory price under the circumstances according to managing director Paul Atherley, adds to the spate of recent withdrawals.
Middle ground in the Middle Kingdom
August 31 - September 6, 2009
WHAT the very smooth Jake Klein does next isn’t yet known, but it’s unlikely he’ll be short of either a dollar or job offers in the resources sector after overseeing the Sino Gold business so successfully. And while there are some who question whether the company rolled over a little too easily in the Eldorado transaction, shareholders of companies like Avoca Resources and Dioro Exploration might be wondering whether their directors have learnt a thing or two about the M&A caper.
Going backwards in China
August 24 - 30, 2009
AFTER six years of work and multiple raisings that reaped it more than $A47 million in cash, Tianshan Goldfields has decided to sell its Gold Mountain project in China for $US22.5 million in a deal that will leave the company with about $A35 million for its next tilt at success.
China gold project has the numbers
July 6 - 12, 2009
CANADIAN domiciled Inter Citic Minerals has unveiled a cost effective gold mine in China that will have been noted by the likes of Eldorado Gold and SinoGold, with a preliminary economic study for the Darchang project in north-western China returning enticing numbers for development across all measures.
Too early for zinc rethink?
June 15 - 21, 2009
WHAT the Chinese don’t know about zinc is, as the saying goes, probably not worth knowing, so the fact that Terramin Australia attracted a Chinese firm to its proposed major Tala Hamza development in Algeria earlier this year should speak for itself.
Caijiaying reopens in time for higher zinc
June 1 - 7, 2009
“IT’S nice to be back in operations again, now the processing plant is operating again, now we’re mining”. So says Roger Goodwin, London point-man for Chinese-focused zinc miner Griffin Mining.
A meeting of mines
June 1 - 7, 2009
NATURALLY CEO Jake Klein can’t say much other than offer a stock, standard response, but that doesn’t disguise the likelihood that life will never be the same again for Sino Gold Mining with the emergence of Eldorado Gold Corp on its share register.
The dragon in the room
May 25 - 31, 2009
PROPONENTS of unfettered Chinese investment in Australian assets invariably cite the fact that the Japanese and Koreans have travelled harmlessly (and positively for Australia) down this path before. But they tend to gloss over at least one key difference with potentially big ramifications.
All for show?
May 25 - 31, 2009
IT’S THE business, stupid, was how Beijing-based commodity trader Joe Singer summed it up. ‘It’ being the red-hot issue of Chinese investment in Australia’s resources sector, with the debate about what is and isn’t in the latter’s long-term national interest reaching fever pitch in the lead-up to Foreign Investment Review Board and Rio Tinto board decisions about the Chinalco deal.
China: the anecdotal evidence says ...
May 18 - 24, 2009
MEETINGS earlier this month with a range of companies and organisations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai have given UBS renewed confidence about the outlook for a range of commodities, though the firm’s disclaimer probably says much about just how much faith can actually be placed in trying to make sense of China.
Growth multiples
April 6 - 12, 2009
SINO Gold is routinely lauded for its achievements in blazing a trail for Western mining companies in China, and routinely critiqued for the high valuation it trades at compared to its gold mining peers. So what gives?
Sino Gold lines up mine No.3
January 26 - February 1, 2009
SINO Gold has shown it is getting the hang of developing projects and commissioning mines in China after more than a decade working in the country with its new White Mountain project in Jilin reportedly achieving “commercial gold production” ahead of schedule on January 1. It has excellent prospects for getting its next project up and running quickly.
Opportunity knocks for Griffin
January 19 - 25, 2009
MLADEN Ninkov’s cashed up zinc and gold miner Griffin Mining Ltd expects to reopen its Caijiaying operation in Hebei Province at the end of March after a three-month cessation of activity during which it wants to reset “operating contracts” at the site.
Crude estimates point to steep falls
December 15 - 21, 2008
DEC 8: CRUDE historical ratios that compare the cost of the inputs to the price of steel indicate what iron ore and coal producers would already know. Namely, revenue is set to slump. However, newswire reports that suggest a savage 82% cut in iron ore contract prices is in the wind are “misinformed, overdone and do not accurately reflect underlying supply/demand fundamentals”.
'V' is for veracity
November 17 - 23, 2008
THERE will be no V-shaped recovery in metal prices according to one of the bigger bulls in the resource sector – but the super cycle thesis remains intact – while another of the experts suggests that longer term, ensuring bank financings in China are unencumbered will be critical if growth is to be sustained.
Stimulus plan right on queue
November 10 - 16, 2008
CHINA’S $US586 billion stimulus plan looks just what the doctor ordered given the serious problems afflicting the country in the wake of the meltdown in the West.
Pressure on iron ore prices to grow
October 20 - 26, 2008
HOW much information out of China can be relied upon is open to debate but for what it’s worth, Chinese viewpoints from a conference in Beijing last week weren’t overly positive with bearish viewpoints on the prospects for the bulks and base metals, copper and zinc.
Pig does fly in China
October 13 - 19, 2008
NICKEL miners are retaining their faith after a long time nickel bear turned up the blow torch on producers, arguing that record prices had caused permanent damage to the sector.
Acupuncture may be used to cure any hangover
August 25 - 31, 2008
IN AUSTRALIA this week the mildly surprising news that business investment could surge by a further 34% in 2008-09 – which would apparently be the biggest jump in 26 years – would have been tempered in board rooms by the still disjointed messages coming from China. HighGrade sought some clearer indications from “Chinese Canadian” banker Howard Balloch, who was in Jilin City.
China costs on the rise
July 21 - 27, 2008
LEYSHON Resources has confirmed creeping cost inflation is going to become a feature of new project development and mine operation in China, but says the country remains a low-cost jurisdiction for gold production by international standards.
The road to production
June 16 - 22, 2008
LEYSHON Resources managing director Paul Atherley has confirmed the company is considering a Hong Kong listing to help fund development of the 70%-owned $US50 million Zheng Guang gold-zinc project in northern China and to try to take advantage of the precipitous share price multiples Chinese investors are assigning to producing gold companies.
Money talks for China Inc
May 26 - June 1, 2008
DON’T expect civil war or domestic political strife to stop the juggernaut, China Minerals Inc, getting its hands on prize resources in exploration hot spots. It’s not even playing the same game as Western mining majors, let alone observing the same rules.
Not so much sparkle
May 5 - 11, 2008
THE reign of the world’s new number one gold producer, China, could be a short one. It doesn’t get a gold, silver or bronze medal from global gold mining heavyweights Barrick, Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti as an exploration destination despite the breakthroughs of smaller foreign-owned companies in China in recent years and the enormous pressure they are under to find and produce gold more cheaply than they can in the world’s major traditional gold producing jurisdictions.
China Gold Inc
April 14 - 20, 2008
ROBERT Friedland appears to have more or less exited the burgeoning Chinese gold sector with the sale of Ivanhoe Mines’ 42% stake in emerging producer Jinshan Gold Mines to a major Chinese gold business. How much the TSX-listed Jinshan will now be utilised for offshore China transactions remains to be seen.
Leyshon says costs in check
March 24 - 30, 2008
AIM and ASX listed, China-based Leyshon Resources Ltd remains confident the start-up cost of its Zheng Guang gold-zinc project in Heilongjiang can be kept in line with a 2006 estimate despite the strength of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) against the US dollar and mounting domestic inflationary pressures.
Chinese go harder
March 17 - 23, 2008
TUNGSTEN, a vital steel hardening agent, has been viewed in the past as a strategic metal. Now it seems the view is only held by the Chinese, whose belief in the long-term importance of the metal to an expanding manufacturing base is evident in a far more aggressive approach to securing raw material supply than global industry rivals.
Moving China mountains won't be easy
February 11 - 17, 2008
SINO Gold will have to ramp up its training and recruitment efforts to ensure it has the skilled labour force to proceed rapidly along its steep China gold production growth course, according to Merrill Lynch analysts, who noted the newly announced doubling of reserves at the White Mountain project only underlined the company’s expanding growth profile.
Challenges for cashed-up Griffin
February 4 - 10, 2008
A LACK of transparency within the Chinese mining industry has hampered Griffin Mining’s attempt to secure a near-production asset that will complement its Caijiaying zinc project in China’s Hebei province. “Nothing in China is clear, it’s always opaque,” a London-based company official told HighGrade.
Anglo-China smooth relations
February 4 - 10, 2008
LITTLE more than a year after firing a warning shot across the bows of the Chinese junks heading into the wider world looking for resources, Anglo American has joined forces with China Development Bank to identify and develop a pipeline of projects in China, Africa and “elsewhere”.
High bid, low cost
December 17 - 23, 2007
CONVENTIONAL valuation measures make Sino Gold’s acquisition of a gold-silver project in northern China look a relatively expensive affair. But given the mine will be a far from conventional project in terms of margin, using such measures looks a moot point.
More iron in nickel diet
December 17 - 23, 2007
NICKEL pig iron continues to create a cloud over the price future of the commodity, with analysts from Macquarie of the belief that production from this new source will only cease once the long term price settles below $US6 per pound.
Leyshon on a roll
December 10 - 16, 2007
ONE company that doesn’t expect delivery delays or budget overruns on ball mills is Leyshon Resources Ltd, which has put in a $US2 million order with Shenyang Heavy Machinery Group for plant for its Zheng Guang gold-zinc project in north-east China.
GSJBW Chinese takeaways all good
November 26 - December 2, 2007
MEMO resources bulls: don’t let the bears ruin your Christmas lunch. Certainly the Goldman Sachs JBWere (GSJBW) analysts recently returned from a two-week stint in China are saying bar humbug to recent suggestions tidings have turned sour for commodity demand in 2008.
Rough roads ahead for Chindia bandwagon?
November 19 - 25, 2007
CHINA and India’s economies have been projected to keep growing at rates of 9.5% and 8% respectively, but infrastructure bottlenecks and pollution create some uncertainty around these forecasts. Also, the Australian economy is not necessarily as directly pegged to economic growth in China as some might think.
New settings no barrier to entry
November 12 - 18, 2007
POOR wording; bad timing – a series of unfortunate events leading up to this week’s China Mining Conference in Beijing. But two Australian gold companies claim it is business as usual in China for foreign investors despite a reported tightening of restrictions on foreign involvement in local mining projects.
Tanjianshan no turkey
November 5 - 11, 2007
ELDORADO Gold Corporation is facing a loss of revenue of $US19-20 million this quarter due to the shutdown of its gold operation in Turkey, but the company is faring better than some of its Canadian peers in China, where Tanjianshan in Qinghai ranked with the country’s biggest single gold mines in the three months to September 30.
Mountain climb has two phases
October 22 - 28, 2007
KEITH Liddell has a proven track record of building mining businesses, with southern African platinum producer Aquarius clearly the standout example to date. His listed China venture, Tianshan Goldfields (TGF), is a rather modest affair at present, but that perhaps says much more about mitigating business risk in China than about Liddell the mine developer.
Environment costs could spike inflation
October 22 - 28, 2007
THE biggest economic risk facing China and hence miners worldwide is environmental damage that could put an end to the country’s rapid growth.
Griffin to pour money into new targets
September 24 - 30, 2007
THE acquisition focus of emerging zinc and gold miner Griffin Mining Ltd – sitting on a pile of cash and now with Chicago billionaire Kenneth Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group on board as major shareholder – remains on China and non-ferrous metals, according to chairman Mladen Ninkov.
Leyshon aims to keep it simple
September 24 - 30, 2007
HEILONGJIANG-focused Leyshon Resources Ltd has received further metallurgical test results on material from the Zheng Guang gold, zinc and silver project which have left it confident about producing a high-grade zinc concentrate, plus separate gold and silver metal products, with a simplified plant flowsheet.
Xietongmen numbers are sound
August 20 - 26, 2007
DEVELOPMENT of China’s biggest foreign-owned mine has moved a step closer following the conclusion of a positive feasibility study on the Xietongmen porphyry copper-gold project by Hunter Dickinson Inc stable member Continental Minerals Corporation (CMC).
Sino Gold judges time is right
August 13 - 19, 2007
FORGET the refractory gold processing facilities and seat on the Shanghai Gold Exchange. It is in fact a potentially major gold deposit in Inner Mongolia that is believed to be the key attraction behind an $A81 million takeover bid launched for Golden China Resources Corp by Gold Fields-backed Sino Gold.
Speed, more thrills for Sino Gold
August 6 - 12, 2007
A PERCEPTION that permitting for foreign-owned gold projects in China is slowing is not the reality, according to Sino Gold chief executive Jake Klein. He claims the country’s mine approval system is robust – evidenced by the pace of progress at the newly board-approved $US55 million White Mountain project in Jilin.
Caijiaying expansion underway
July 2 - 8, 2007
NEW YORK investment bank Merrill Lynch continues to increase its stake in London-listed China zinc producer Griffin Mining plc, which has also attracted the attention of another trillion-dollar funds manager, BlackRock Inc. Merrill Lynch merged with BlackRock last year and owns just under 50% of the firm. Combined, the pair now has about 9.5% of Griffin, currently capitalised at $US450 million.
China to take gold
June 4 - 10, 2007
THE managing director of one of the foreign-owned companies leading China’s domestic gold industry into a new era is confident the country will become the world’s leading gold producer “in the next few years”.
Price response the only certainty
May 21 - 27, 2007
WHAT IS real, and what’s not? While market pundits continue to promulgate theories on the direction of metal prices based on speculation about where Chinese supply and demand levels might take them, latest real data – or as real as is available – out of China just seems to reinforce the fact that internal consumption of most mineral commodities is at record levels with little sign of any dipping.
Maoling wait continues
May 14 - 20, 2007
CANADIAN gold company Mundoro Mining Inc’s proposed 328,000oz-a-year Maoling project in Liaoning province appears no closer to getting back on a production path, with the company saying current feasibility work is expected to wind down this quarter pending receipt of a long-awaited provincial government business licence to operate. This approval is needed to enable Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Mundoro to get a new exploration licence from Beijing.
Unreal estate
April 2 - 8, 2007
DEMAND for raw materials from second and third tier cities in China indicates the positives for mining companies are set to continue, with the Chinese Government said to be unconcerned about overheating in its real estate sector.
Dachang tops 2Moz
March 26 - April 1, 2007
CANADIAN gold explorer Inter-Citic Minerals Inc has passed the two million ounce milestone at its Dachang project in Quinghai, China, and is set to start work on a scoping study on the shallow, potentially bulk mineable mineralisation.
Crowded table
March 1 - 7, 2007
BEDEVILLED Canadian company Mundoro Mining Inc continues to bring more parties to the negotiating table as it seeks a way through the bureaucratic impasse blocking progress at its Maoling gold project in Liaoning.
More red carpet
February 8 - 14, 2007
ANOTHER day, another Chinese company becomes interested in a potential foreign mining project. This time it’s a nickel laterite property in New South Wales that has been in need of a kick-start since the late 1990s.
Construction still in full swing
January 25 - 31, 2007
WILL China’s growth juggernaut slow in 2007, or won’t it? It’s the multi-billion-dollar question for metal and energy producers around the world. An Australian junior mining stock watcher has a simple response to anyone who asks whether China’s growth is coming to an end. “When was the last time you visited China?” he says.
Mountain climbing
December 21 - 27, 2006
GOLD Mountain by name and, it seems, by nature. A significant resource upgrade, including high-rate conversion to indicated resources, at Tianshan Goldfields Ltd’s project in north-west China has paved the way for a scoping study to get underway on a proposed heap leach gold operation in the first quarter of 2007.
Goode review
December 21 - 27, 2006
IT MIGHT be running behind time and over budget – isn’t everything these days? – but Sino Gold Ltd’s emerging Jinfeng gold project in Guizhou has got a big thumbs up from noted Australian mining analyst Keith Goode.
Tanjianshan into gear
December 14 - 20, 2006
THE NEW Tanjianshan gold mine in Qinghai is expected to add 120,000-130,000oz to Canadian-based Eldorado Gold Corporation’s 2007 production profile, more than replacing output from the higher cost Sao Bento mine in Brazil, which is due to wind down early next year.
Disasters hit coal prices
December 7 - 13, 2006
THE IMPACT of a new wave of Chinese coal mine disasters is likely to spread beyond further crackdowns by the government on mines not doing enough to improve safety. According to a leading investment bank, the mine failures have exacerbated supply shortages in China and a dip in its thermal coal exports.
Griffin okays expansion
December 7 - 13, 2006
BRITISH-headquartered Griffin Mining Ltd has announced plans to channel some of the mounting cash surplus from its Caijiaying zinc operation in Hebei into a more than two-fold expansion of processing capacity by 2008.
House of Sino
December 7 - 13, 2006
HAVING established a strong foundation the leading foreign-based and listed gold company in China is now setting about building a major mining house. Sino Gold Ltd’s recent moves to expand and diversify its exploration efforts in China – particularly a deal with major shareholder Gold Fields Ltd of South Africa – as it brings the country’s biggest new gold project into production are being seen as positive steps in the creation of China’s first world-class gold miner.
No room for Chinese buccaneers
November 23 - 29, 2006
ANGLO American plc has fired a none-to-subtle warning shot across the bows of the flotillas of Chinese junks heading offshore in search of cheap raw materials needed to feed China’s ever-hungry manufacturing industries.
No time to waste
November 16 - 22, 2006
EARLY mining and heap leaching of the surface oxide ore blanket covering much of its expanding Zheng Guang gold and zinc resource in Heilongjiang is expected to give Leyshon Resources Ltd and its Chinese joint venture partner a financial boost in the lead-up to commissioning of a one million tonnes per annum carbon-in-leach operation early in 2008.
Jinfeng year's leading project
November 16 - 22, 2006
AUSTRALIAN-based Sino Gold Ltd’s 82%-owned Jinfeng gold project in Guizhou has claimed the inaugural Development of the Year Award at this week’s China Mining Congress in Beijing.
Something missing
November 16 - 22, 2006
DFS on track: check. Local resource and reserve compliance coming along: check. Chinese feasibility study moving forward: check. Mine design by respected international firm being optimised: check. Licence to operate … Uh-oh, that one is still missing.
More Zheng Guang to the north
October 26 - November 1, 2006
LEYSHON Resources Ltd has highlighted the broader potential of its Zheng Guang gold and base metal project in Heilongjiang Province after hitting near-surface gold and zinc mineralisation 1km north of previously delineated resources.
Something to Crowe about
October 5 - 11, 2006
RUPERT Crowe says he was probably “as much to blame as anyone else” for persevering with the Caijiaying zinc project in China when the zinc price was less than a quarter of what it is now and few foreign companies had successfully navigated China’s convoluted mine-development maze and emerged with a profitable operation.
Tanjianshan start-up imminent
September 21 - 27, 2006
THE $US65 million Tanjianshan gold project in Qinghai remains on track for its planned start-up next month, according to 90%-owner Eldorado Gold Corporation of Canada.
Chinese puzzle
September 7 - 13, 2006
THE popular Chinese puzzle, the Tangram, consists of only seven pieces. A puzzler has a deceptively simple task – to arrange all the pieces into a specific shape. But the task is not so simple and Tangrams are variously described as ingenious and diabolical. One reviewer says the puzzle’s very simplicity proves “most maddening”.
Shifting goals irk Mundoro
August 21 - 27, 2006
CANADIAN company Mundoro Mining Inc has blamed China’s "evolving regulatory environment" for delays in securing provincial approvals for its $US235 million Maoling gold project in Liaoning.
Northern exposure
August 10 - 16, 2006
AN emerging zinc mine in Hebei could provide the blueprint for development of the expanding multi-metal Zheng Guang resource in the province of Heilongjiang.
China’s metals tally: how will it compete?
July 24 - 30, 2006
FOREIGN mineral explorers in China need to be long-distance runners, not sprinters, say those who have been there longest.
New direction for Leyshon
June 26 - July 2, 2006
ONE OF China’s modern gold and zinc discoveries and projects, Zheng Guang in Heilongjiang, has entered an important new phase as Australian-based Leyshon Resources Ltd bids to firm up and expand resources and push forward with a rapid development plan.
Griffin rises
May 29 - June 4, 2006
MLADEN Ninkov has promised a much improved financial result for Griffin Mining Ltd in 2006 after the London-based zinc miner turned in a $US311,000 net profit on the first $US6.12 million of revenue generated by the Caijiaying mine in China’s Hebei Province.
Jinfeng riches grow
May 15 - 21, 2006
SINO Gold Ltd has continued a positive build-up to the commencement of gold production later this year at Jinfeng in Guizhou, confirming a 38% increase in reserves to 2.9 million ounces and an early start to expansion studies based on the ongoing exploration success.
Eldorado sees cost saving
May 15 - 21, 2006
CANADA’S Eldorado Gold Corporation expects to save more than $US23 million by employing owner rather than contractor mining at the 85%-owned (moving to 90%) Tanjianshan gold mine in northern Qinghai.
Copper major to expand
May 15 - 21, 2006
China’s major copper producer, Jiangxi Copper, plans to spend $US1.12 billion to increase its smelter output and resource development over the next three years, it has been reported in Hong Kong.
NGM off to a slow start
May 15 - 21, 2006
NOT much to get excited about yet at Longtaushan, about two hours east of Nanning in Guangxi. Australian explorer NGM Resources Ltd arrived on the scene in the middle of last year, striking a deal to earn 80% of an existing gold mine and surrounding exploration ground by spending $A2.4 million over two years on exploration and development.
Growth fires up coal demand
February 16 - 22, 2006
CHINA: CHINA’S top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), expects the total demand for coal in 2006 to reach 2.25 billion tonnes and sees production capacity this year of over 2.26 billion tonnes — an outlook the Beijing government describes as a fairly balanced picture.
