A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

Indonesian thermal coal exporters are now required to produce a certificate clearing the miner to produce coal before they ship material overseas, a government official said.

The latest move is the second regulatory obstacle encountered by Indonesian coal exporters this year.

Last month, several coal shipments were delayed due to the strict enforcement of a regulation requiring exporters to produce a IUP-OPK license, which allows them to trade and transport coal.

Read more at: http://www.platts.com/latest-news/coal/manila/indonesian-coal-exporters-face-second-regulatory-27955375

Tokyo. Japan is preparing to take Indonesia to the World Trade Organization over a ban on exports of mineral ores that has curtailed supplies for industry, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

The Japanese government is set to seek talks with Indonesia through the WTO this month, the report said, without citing sources. If the issue was not resolved, Japan would request that a panel be appointed to look into the case, it added.

Senior officials at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told Reuters the government was still studying whether Indonesia’s new mining law violated WTO rules. It had no plans to take the issue to the WTO at present, although this remained an option.

Read more at: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/japan-may-take-indonesia-to-wto-over-mineral-export-ban-media/

Nickel prices climbed to a three-week high on speculation that a global surplus will shrink amid a ban on exports of unprocessed ores in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the metal from mines.

Supplies outpaced demand by 197,000 metric tons last year, the World Bureau of Metal Statistics said today. An industry group in China, the world’s largest nickel user, said yesterday that government agencies met on Feb. 13 with domestic producers on “practical policy proposals” to counter the impact of Indonesia’s ban, which took effect Jan. 12.

Read more at:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-19/nickel-reaches-three-week-high-on-buying-to-close-bearish-bets.html

The project was originally supposed to cost $360 million, but as of 2011, the expected figure had jumped to $759 million. The mine will produce about 2,200 tonnes of nickel a day.

Read more at:

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2014/02/18-totten-opening-sudbury.aspx

 February 19, 2014 – AMERICAN VANADIUM CORP.  announces that the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”) will evaluate and demonstrate the CellCube vanadium redox flow energy storage system at its state-of-the-art testing facility. After the demonstration of the energy storage system at NREL’s facility in Golden, Colorado, the CellCube is designated for sale to a US utility.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-vanadium-announces-first-cellcube-vanadium-flow-battery-installation-in-america-2014-02-19?reflink=MW_news_stmp

On the surface the BHPB result yesterday was a mirror image of the Rio result last week.

Both were centred on the still-fabulous profits from iron ore. BHPB got more than half its group underlying gross (EBIT) profit from iron ore in the half year — $US6.5 billion ($7.2 billion) of the $US12.4 billion group total.

Rio, which was reporting for a full year, generated an extraordinary $US17.4 billion of grosser (EBITDA) profit from iron ore. This was more than 80 per cent of its total group profit.

They got to their improved group profit destinations by the same mix of tough operational strategies imposed by their relatively new CEOs — Sam Walsh at Rio, Andrew Mackenzie at BHPB.

Read more at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/bhp-billitons-copperled-future/story-fni0d8gi-1226830940533

Feb 18 (Reuters) – Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore producer, will move forward with a planned offering of 10-year, U.S. dollar-denominated global bonds during the first half of the year, a source with direct knowledge of the transaction said.

The sale of the senior notes will take place when market conditions look most favorable to lower the Rio de Janeiro-based company’s borrowing costs, said the source, who declined to be identified since the deal is still under analysis. The source did not detail terms of the proposed deal, such as the size of the issue.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/18/vale-brazil-bonds-idUSL2N0LN10K20140218

Rare earth metals are important components in green energy products such as wind turbines and eco-cars. But the scarcity of these metals is worrying the EU.

The demand for metals such as neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) is increasing much faster than production. These metals are used in technologies such as the generators that store power in wind turbines, and the electric motors that propel electric and hybrid cars. But they are also used in everyday products like computers and mobile phones.

Forecasts show that as early as next year, these metals will be hard to come by.

Read  more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-urgent-recycle-rare-metals.html