#Canada’s #Sherritt International Corp and #Japan’s #Sumitomo Corp said on Wednesday they would book more than $1.7 billion of losses on their #Ambatovy #Nickel mine in #Madagascar, as prices at 12-year lows wreak havoc among miners.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/sumitomo-nickel-idUSL3N14X2Q620160113
A good example of this can be found in the case of #Molycorp, a #RareEarth miner that has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This company was so desperate for cash in 2014 that it promised #Oaktree a huge premium to borrow more money so that it could finish upgrades on its mine in #Mountain Pass, #Calif.
The deal included Molycorp’s borrowing $250 million on paper but receiving only $198.7 million of the cash. In addition, the miner would have to fork over about $374 million — almost twice the amount of money it received — if it sought to repay the debt before it matured in five years.
But wait, there’s more! Oaktree also stood to get paid back in full, including that extra penalty for prepayment, before any other bondholders saw a dime in the event that the company filed for bankruptcy, which is exactly what happened.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-01-11/oaktree-plays-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose-with-molycorp
#Molycorp Inc. bondholders won the right to trade their debt for company assets, clearing the way for an auction of the bankrupt mining company in March.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-08/molycorp-sets-march-asset-auction-after-talks-with-creditors
#Mining presents a unique opportunity to stimulate #NorthKorea’s economy.
Unlike many of the economic avenues the nation has travelled down – drugs, arms, statues, and outsourcing its own citizens as a cheap labour force – tourism and mining are legally providing a development path unaffected by the existing #UN sanctions.
Read more at: http://www.australianmining.com.au/features/north-korea-mining
#Lithium miner #Galaxy Resources has emerged as one of a series of bidders for assets of the failed US rare earths producer #Molycorp, which collapsed in mid-2015 with debts of an estimated $US1.7 billion.
#Aluminum Corp. of #China, which is a #US-traded mining company based in #Beijing and known commonly as #Chalco, offered to pay more than $US700 million Molycorp’s non-U.S. assets, sources close to the negotiations said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/galaxy-resources-may-bid-for-molycorp-assets-20160106-gm07mz.html#ixzz3wTDNZAJ0
The nation’s airlines could realize more than $250 billion dollars in savings in the near future thanks to green-related technologies developed and refined by #NASA’s #Aeronautics researchers during the past six years.
Source: NASA Research Could Save Commercial Airlines Billions in New Era of Aviation
#Indonesia may relax rules on the export of #Metal concentrates following the collapse in metals prices, while keeping a ban on raw ore shipments, according to #Energy and #Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-04/indonesia-mulls-pushing-back-metal-concentrate-export-deadline
Experiments show that #Graphene can act as a “super sieve”, able to separate different atomic isotopes of #Hydrogen, and create the expensive “heavy water” needed by the nuclear industry, researchers said.
Read more at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/graphene-could-be-used-to-clean-up-nuclear-waste-say-scientists-a6792281.html
#China’s CITIC CLSA Capital Markets Ltd will participate in the process to buy an indirect stake in #Chile-based #SQM, one of the world’s top #Lithium producers, the holding company selling the stake said on Monday.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/sqm-oro-blanco-divestiture-idUSL1N14H16D20151228
#India expects to seal a contract with #Westinghouse Electric Co LLC to build six #Nuclear #Reactors in the first half of next year, a senior government official said, in a sign its $150 billion dollar nuclear #Power programme is getting off the ground.
A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info 