July, 19 2005
IISCO to merge with Steel Authority
IISCO will be amalgamated with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) as a going concern, together with all its properties, assets, rights, benefits and interest, subject to existing charges thereon in favour of banks and financial institutions.
According to a release issued by SAIL to the BSE today, all debt, liabilities, duties and obligations, secured or unsecured, will be treated as debt, liabilities, duties and obligations of SAIL. "Since no shares are being issued pursuant to the scheme, the capital structure of the company shall remain the same," the release added.
IISCO has iron ore mines at Chiria in Jharkhand, which is the second largest in the world with an estimated reserve of over 1,000 million tonne with iron content of over 62%.
"Its strategic location will be an advantageous iron ore source for the company's steel plants. IISCO has collieries at Chasnalla, Jitpur and Ramnagore. Due to the upsurge in the steel market, prices of coking coal and iron ore have increased manifold, and the company will, in the long run, benefit by securing high quality coal and iron ore from IISCO mines," the release said
Tata Steel buys 5% stake in Australian coal mine
Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tata Steel) has signed an agreement with AMCI Australia Pty to buy 5% interest in the Carborough Downs coal project located in Queensland, Australia.
According to a release issued by Tata Steel to the BSE today, the company also signed an offtake agreement for a proportion of the production over life of the project.
"Carborough Downs is an undeveloped, underground coking coal project with production scheduled to commence in 2006. It is located in Bowen Basin in Central Queensland. The project life is estimated to be 14 years, and approximately 58 million tonne of raw coal is expected to be mined during the period. There is a further potential resource of 100 million tonne of raw coal in unexplored areas and deeper seams. The clean coal envisaged to be produced will be low-ash coking coal, highly suitable for steel making," the release added.
The Carborough Downs coal project is majority owned and operated by AMCI Australia Pty, a subsidiary of AMCI Holdings Australia Pty
Jharkhand govt signs two more MOUs in steel sector
The Jharkhand government today signed two Memoranda of Understanding with 'Contisteel' and 'Kohinoor Steel' to set up separate integrated steel plants.
New Delhi-based Contisteel's 1.25 mt (per year) plant to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 1,507 crore, has identified Nimdih near Chandil for setting up the unit and its director P K Mohanti said the plant would be installed within 16 months.
Kohinoor Steel would set up a plant at Chandil at an estimated cost of Rs 410 crore.
With today's signing, the state government has inked mou with 31 companies till date, including with Hindalco and Jindal. PTI
Silicon steel prices trip power reforms
The transformer prices have gone up by about 40 per cent last year following an increase in silicon steel prices (main ingredient) which is fully imported.
The power utilities, however, are not willing to pay increased prices. Some companies have altogether stopped supply of transformers to the power utilities while others are locked in prolonged negotiations leading to delay
The price of a 160 MvA transformer has gone up to Rs 3.3 crore as against Rs 2.5 crore a year ago. The price of a 63 KvA transformer has increased to Rs 60,000 per unit, a 50 per cent increase over Rs 40,000, a year back.
Indian power industry is growing at 15 per cent annually. The transformer industry, with an annual capacity of 80,000 MvA, is growing at 22 per cent
Silicone steel, an important raw material for transformers, accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total cost of raw material. Prices of silicon steel have trebled in the last one year to $3,600 per metric tonne in June from $1,200 a year ago.
The hike in silicon steel price is a result of cartelisation from about 10 silicon steel makers based in Europe, China, Japan and Korea. A cut in supply by these players have also helped raise the silicon steel prices, said Sunil More, secretary general, IEEMA
The Chinese manufacturers have signed agreements to procure silicon steel prices at $4,000 per tonne in 2006. There is a likelihood that silicon steel prices could go well past $4,000 per tonne next year due to a lack of supply from the steel makers, he added.
Global steel makers (including Indian) do not venture into silicon steel making on account of high input costs and lesser returns. It takes an investment of over Rs 300 crore for setting up a silicon steel plant, said sources
Vizag Steel Plant net up 30%
State-owned Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has registered about 30 per cent growth in net profits during the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, as compared to previous year.
During 2004-05, the companys gross profit stood at Rs 3,003 crore. Its net profit was Rs 2,008 crore as compared to the net profit of Rs 1,547 crore earned in the previous fiscal.
During the first quarter of the current fiscal, the steel plant reported a 41 per cent growth in gross profits at Rs 489 crore as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal.
We were able to cross the last fiscal turnover of Rs 8,000 crore despite a drop in steel prices. However, our margins have come down marginally, Y Siva Sagar Rao, chairman and managing director of VSP, told mediapersons here on Monday.
NTPC devises strategy to overcome crisis of coal shortages
Faced with severe coal shortages, state owned National Thermal Power Corporation has devised a three-pronged strategy including import of four million tonnes of coal this year to over come the immediate crisis while developing captive mines as long term solution.
"We had asked MMTC (Mines and Mineral Trading Corp) to arrange 2.1 million tonnes of coal initially which will be increased to four million tonnes for the current fiscal," C P Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC, told PTI.
To resolve the problem in the long run, NTPC has decided to construct "integrated" power plants having linkages to the coal mines which would be owned by the PSU itself and bring down the dependence on coal companies.
Jharkhand Govt, TISCO reach agreements
The Jharkhand Government and Tata Steel on Monday reached an agreement over the long pending renewal of land lease with the private sector company agreeing to pay Rs 150 crores towards arrears, Chief Minister Arjun Munda, said.
"The new rate for the land lease would be fixed by August 15," Munda told newsmen after meeting Tata Managing Director B Muthuraman, and other top TISCO officials.
After the lease had expired over two decades ago, the two sides were locked in a fierce disagreement over issues pertaining to Schedule Four and Five, resulting in the Government refusal over lease renewal.
Steel rush at Jharkhands Chiria Hill, SAIL feels left out
80 companies want mining leases, 35 of them have signed agreements for steel plants; world leader Mittal eyeing it as first Indian investment
For over a century, it was a one-company monopoly. But now Chiria Hill in West Singhbhum district is becoming Jharkhands corporate hotspot and the cause of a legal battle between the state government and the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).
Chiria Hill is home to over 2,000 million tonnes of iron ore deposits, making it Indias single largest repository of the commodity. With steel demand galloping in the country it is estimated to grow from 34.5 million tonnes a year now to 110 million tonnes in 2020 steel companies are eyeing Chiria.
The Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO), now a SAIL subsidiary, began mining in Chiria in 1870. Now the state government is wooing investment, attracting TISCO, Essar, the Jindals, Monet Ispat and the London-based L.N. Mittal to the Hill.
Eighty companies have filed applications with the district Mining Department seeking mining leases. Of them, at least 35 including Essar and Jindal Steel have already signed MoUs with the state government agreeing to set up steel plants in Jharkhand. Investments worth Rs 80,000 crore have been promised.
Between 1947 and 1982, IISCO obtained leases for 10 mines in Chiria, covering a potential 2,244.59 million tonnes reserve. Three leases 454.84 million tonnes reserve were cancelled by Munda on January 9. The government said IISCO had not taken recourse to scientific mining to exploit the huge reserve. It also said applications for lease renewal had not come in time.
Steel prices likely to firm up by September: RINL chief
STEEL prices have already bottomed out and there is no possibility of a further reduction in the near future, according to Mr Y. Siva Sagar Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL). He added that by September, steel prices may firm up.
Analysing the factors that led to the fall in prices, at a press meet in the plant on Monday, he said that the prices of the finished product had fallen but the input prices remained pretty high.
"Therefore, I feel the speculation that there may be a further fall in prices is ill-founded. In fact, prices may firm up by September. Anyway, we are not contemplating any price correction till the end of August. Then, depending on the market, we will fix the prices."
Ukraine to sell 1.7 percent stake in Kirviorog
The government is to sell a 1.74 percent ($13.9 Millions) stake in Ukraine's Kryvorizhstal steel mill by the end of September to test its market price ahead of the planned re-privatization of the enterprise, an official said Monday.
"The government is doing it to check the market price of shares ahead of reselling the main package," said Nina Yavorskaya, spokeswoman for Ukraine's State Property Fund.
The government reclaimed a 93 percent stake in the mill last month, after a court upheld an earlier ruling voiding its acquisition by former President Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk and another tycoon in 2004 on the grounds it was sold too cheaply.
The full stake in Kryvorizhstal - Ukraine's largest steel mill - is expected to be re-privatized by the end of October.
Mittal signs $462 mln deals to revamp Polish plants
Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel maker, signed two modernisation deals on Monday worth a total $462 million to revamp its recently acquired Polish-based steel plants.
Under the two deals, Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, a unit of VA Tech, will build a 1.15 billion-zloty hot-rolling mill, while Germany's SMS Demag is to construct a continuous casting line for 431 million zlotys by end-2006.
"Poland is one of the most important production centres in the Mittal Steel group. We expect large demand for high-quality products which are currently being imported," Mittal's Europe Chief Roeland Baan told a news conference. The revamp contracts are the last and the biggest of four modernisation projects planned by the Polish unit of Mittal Steel.
Mittal Steel, controlled by Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, bought Poland's leading steel group from the Polish government in late 2003, agreeing to invest 2.4 billion zlotys in its modernisation by 2009.
The company, now called Mittal Steel Poland, is a group of four steelworks in southern Poland that produces around two thirds of the central European country's annual steel output.
Corus eyes 570m slice of Erdimer
Steelmaker Corus is talking Turkey as it comes closer to selling its aluminium side. Corus Aluminium has a strong market share in aerospace and car parts. A quick sale of the aluminium side could put at least 400m in their war chest
The well-regarded group is strong in flat steel, used in cars and household goods. One of its two main plants needs hefty investment, but it has a cash pile and strong cash flow.
It has joined the suitors for Turkish steel group Erdemir, where a 49.3% stake is up for grabs. A deal would give Corus a stake in one of Europe's fastest-growing markets, and the low-cost production it sought through its aborted merger with Brazil's CSN. The Turkish government and a local bank are selling their stakes in Erdemir. Brokers talk of a price of $1bn (570m) but it could be more.
The deadline for bids is 26 September. Thirteen suitors - including Mittal, US Steel, Arcelor of France and Korea's Posco - have joined the queue.
Iron Ore Prices to Gain 10%
Record iron ore prices may extend their gains another 10 percent in 2006 as supplies of the steelmaking raw material from India slow and steelmakers in Asia raise output, ABN Amro NV said.
Benchmark prices for iron ore fines, which account for 60 percent of global trade in the ore, may rise to 69 cents a dry metric ton unit for the year starting April 1, 2006 reports an analysts
Global steel output rose 10 percent in May, led by surging production from China, the world's largest producer, according to the International Iron & Steel Institute. India, the world's third-largest iron ore exporter, can't match ore exports growth achieved last year, ABN Amro's Clifford said.
Demand is going to remain strong given that global steel production is still going up,'' said Melbourne-based Clifford, 33, said in an interview July 15. India will have trouble meeting exports as it has drawn down stocks and the steel lobby wants to keep as much iron ore in the country as possible.''
Fines ore are so named because of its powder-like form. Prices of lump ore, which is easier to process than fines, would also rise 10 percent to 88 cents a dry metric ton unit, the report said. ABN previously expected prices to stay unchanged.
Iron ore prices rose 71.5 percent to a record this year because of demand from China, driving profits for miners such as Rio Tinto, Melbourne-based BHP Billiton and Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce.
Global Steel Abandons Izdemir Share Purchase
Global Steel Holding has ended a share agreement signed with Turkey Is Bank to purchase 54.68 percent of shares in Izmir Demir Celik (Izdemir) Industry.
Reportedly, in a statement sent to the Istanbul Stock Exchange on behalf of Is Bank noted that Global Steel has ended the agreement signed with the bank on 5 May 2005. No reason has been given by the holding for its withdrawal
Turkish Isbank, which is the majority shareholder in Izdemir Demir Celik, issued a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange Monday morning saying that Mittals Global Steel Holdings Ltd had cancelled an agreement to acquire a 54.68 percent stake in Izdemir, a deal which was worth $78.45 million.
The statement said that Global Steel Holdings had terminated the sales accord with Isbank without giving any reasonable cause for doing so.
While retaining all our legal rights, the said shares sale to the company will not go ahead, the banks statement said.
Mittal Steel Poland profit
The largest Polish steel concern, Mittal Steel Poland, has come under fire for investments it has made with the $500 million net profit it posted last year.
The funds have allowed the firm to acquire bonds from its investor Mittal Steel, worth almost $500 million. "Thanks to this move Mittal Steel Poland will post significantly higher profits than interest on bank deposit," said Jacek Mireński, the company's PR manager.
However, trade unions and steel sector representatives do not trust the investor, fearing the funds may never be returned to the domestic company.
Recently South Africa accused Mittal Steel of pumping $100 million out from the country
Baoshan unlikely to cut production
China's biggest steelmakers, such as Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., are unlikely to cut production in the second half even with falling prices, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts published on July 11. Chinese steelmakers are visiting India late August to negotiate for longer-term supplies of iron ore.
Supplies may be harder to find, said ABN Amro. India is the second-largest supplier of iron ore to China last year. Indian iron ore exports accounted for about 12 percent of global trade, according to Citigroup Inc., ranking behind Australia and Brazil.
Its exports had grown 24 percent to 78 million tons for the year ended March 31, 2005, according to the Indian mineral industry federation. Sesa Goa Ltd., the country's largest non- state ore exporter, have said the exports may be unsustainable as some of the additional supply had come from illegal mining and production from lower-grade ore.
POSCO under pressure to ramp up product line
Koreas No. 1 steelmaker POSCO is pushing hard to ensure a steady stream of raw materials and generate overseas demand.
The Pohang-based company is scheduled to set up its Indian office next month as the initial step in building a mill in the eastern state of Orissa by 2010. The agreement, a follow-up to President Roh Moo-hyuns visit to India last October, allows POSCO to mine Orissas 600-milion-ton iron ore reserves for 30 years.
POSCO also signed a 10-year deal in December to purchase 125 million tons of iron ore from Australias BHP Billiton, one of the worlds three biggest iron ore miners. The two companies embarked on the development of a western Australian mine two years ago as part of their partnership, which began in 1973.
In November, Brazilian Companhia Vale do Rio Doce agreed to supply POSCO 103 million tons of iron ore for $2.1 billion until March 2015. Competition to secure the world No. 1 mining companys ore is fierce due to its superior quality. POSCO and CVRD have also run a 50:50 joint pellet production facility called KOBRASCO in Vitoria, Brazil, since 1995.
For coal, a major raw material used in steel production, POSCO acquired 2.5 percent of a mine owned by Canadian company Elk Valley Coal Partnership late last year.
As cheap Chinese steel products continue to rush in, POSCO is increasingly moving its focus to more expensive products that require high-end technology for steel used to build oil pipelines.
Viet Nams Thai Nguyen Steel to raise to 1 Million tonnes
The Thai Nguyen Steel Complex last year turned out 430,000 tonnes of rolling steel, 300,000 tonnes of steel ingot and 210,000 tonnes of pig-iron, grossing a turnover of 2,500 billion VND.
Its products have gone to almost all key projects in the country, occupying a firm foothold in the market.
The Thai Nguyen Steel Complex, located about 80 km north of Ha Noi, was built with Chinese assistance in 1959. At the end of 2001, the first phase of an extension project of the Thai Nguyen Steel Complex was completed with a total investment of nearly 700 billion VND (46.7 million USD), with China contributing 22 million USD.
The second phase of the extension (2005-2007), with a total investment of 200 million USD, aims to raise the complex's capacity to 750,000-1,000,000 million tonnes a year.
MEPS says EU Steel prices for strip falling, long may bounce back
Further price cuts for both flat and long products in European markets were widely expected this month and values have duly fallen. The Summer holiday season is usually a quiet period in the steel market. Nevertheless, the first indications have appeared that the bottom of the current price cycle may be nearing for long products. For strip products, the situation is much less encouraging.
The economic environment remains generally weak, casting a pall over end-user confidence. The French and German economies are flagging and Italy seems to be heading into recession. The steel stock overhang is proving persistent and is taking longer to dissipate than had been expected.
The cost of scrap is often seen as a leading indicator of steel prices particularly in long products where it is the major raw material for many producers. A rise in scrap values often heralds an upward move in the price of steel.
July has seen the first increase in scrap charges for several months. Indicators show modest rises of $US5/10 per tonne in some key markets such as the West European export trade. Prime grades in the US Midwest are up by as much as $US20 per tonne. However, the bounce in prices was not universal Asian scrap markets in particular remain lacklustre and it is by no means certain that the advance will be sustained. Nevertheless, there are other reasons to think that long product values may not have much further to fall. There have been reports of an increase in prices for globally traded billets something which is often a precursor of bar and rod price rises.
MEPS average EU transaction figure for long products currently stands at 353 per tonne. This is the lowest since January 2004, when the remarkable upsurge that took it close to 500 per tonne was just beginning. Since the peak of the market was reached last October, the average long product price has fallen by 146 per tonne or 30 percent. It now stands only about 50 per tonne above the low point of the previous price cycle. Taking into account cost increases in the 2 years since then especially energy the bottom of the market could be close at hand.
For flat rolled products, the picture is a little different. MEPS current average EU transaction price of 484 per tonne is down by 118 per tonne from the peak. This is a drop of only 20 percent. At its current level, the average flat product price remains more than 100 per tonne above its low point in the previous cycle it bottomed out at 365 per tonne in October 2003. This may indicate that prices for flat products have further to fall before the upward leg of the cycle takes hold.
If slab prices bear the same relationship to flat products as billet prices do to longs, then it may be safe to bet on a further decline: the international slab value has dropped by as much as $US150 per tonne over the last four months. Spot market numbers for iron ore and coal have also reduced. In addition, ocean freight rates for ferrous raw materials are at a two-year low. This may reflect some diminution in demand for imported coal and iron ore but it probably has more to do with an increase in the number of dry bulk vessels available to the market.
Although European mills continue to try to cover this years sharp escalations in costs for iron ore, coal and coke, their selling prices for strip products may still be some distance from their floor.
US Steel & Ipscos rating reduced by UBS
U.S. Steel (X) was downgraded to reduce from neutral at UBS, primarily because of a lowered outlook for steel prices. Analyst Timna Tanners cut the stock price target to $34 from $46.
Tanners also downgraded Ipsco (IPS) to neutral from buy and lowered the price target to $48 from $55.
The analyst reduced the 2005 forecast for hot-rolled coil to an average of $507 a ton from $560 and the 2006 outlook to $391 per ton from $465, as prices continue to deteriorate since Tanners last lowered the estimates in December.
"Good availability amid a global glut helps make buyer expectations of lower prices a self-fulfilling prophecy," Tanners said.
"We do not share the belief that lower inventories will spark a price rebound, as we believe plenty of steel is available, domestically or imported, to respond to any demand uptick.
Chinese economists eye soft landing, yuan reform
Most leading Chinese economists believe the economy is slowing towards a soft-landing this year and there is more urgency to reform the yuan currency, a government survey shows.
A poll by the National Bureau of Statistics showed some 80 percent of China's 60 leading economists expected the country's economic growth would slow to between 8 and 9 percent this year, the Financial News said in a weekend report.
"The economists expect China's economic growth to slow in the second half and the chance of achieving a soft-landing is very big, but deflation is unlikely to occur," the newspaper said. Slower economic growth and inflation would help ease some upward pressure on the yuan currency, it said. The government should "appropriately relax monetary policy while continuing its tightening efforts on the property sector", the newspaper quoted the economists as saying. Meanwhile, the government needed to step up economic reforms, including reforms of the yuan currency regime, it said. "The reforms, including reforms of the foreign exchange formation mechanism, should be strengthened and accelerated."
First quarter gross domestic product, up 9.4 percent on a year earlier, suggested sustained strong growth, but falling inflation and easing corporate profits in recent months have fuelled market expectations of a slowdown in the second half.
The government has since mid-2003 taken a slew of tightening steps to slow such heated parts of the economy as property, steel and cement, trying to head off a boom-to-bust cycle.
China has pledged to make its currency more flexible through reforms in its own time, resisting pressure from countries such as the United States, which say the yuan, pegged at around 8.28 to the dollar, gives it an unfair trade advantage. Investors have speculated China might unshackle its pegged currency as earlier as this year, perhaps by pegging it to a basket of currencies rather than just the dollar.
Hay Point coal terminal expansion approved
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) CEO John Smith has announced the approval of Phase 2 of BMA's expansion program at its Hay Point coal terminal, which will lift capacity by four million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) to 44Mtpa, and the commencement of a detailed assessment of Phase 3 and Phase 4 expansions.
Approval of these further phases would increase capacity to an estimated 55 - 57Mtpa, and in support of this, a process to obtain environmental approvals for Phases 3 and 4 is already underway.The Phase 2 works approved will bring investment under the expansion program at the port to more than $230 million.
This project builds on a growth strategy announced last year to boost production capacity at the Central Queensland mines by seven million tonnes to 59 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) by the second half of 2006.
This includes a significant increase in throughput capacity at Hay Point from 34 to 40 Mtpa by the second half of 2006. The further Phase 2 expansion from 40 to 44 Mtpa will be operational in the first quarter of 2007.
Steel Dynamics second-quarter profit slips
Steel Dynamics Inc. said on Monday that second-quarter profit fell as a result of soft demand as well as significantly lower scrap steel prices that have driven down prices for finished steel products.
Net earnings were $51 million or $1 a share, compared with $67.3 million, or $1.20 a share in the same quarter last year, the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based steel manufacturer reported. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.13 a share in the quarter, according to Reuters Estimates
US Steel production falls
Domestic steelmakers saw their weekly output fall from the previous seven days, in addition to a drop compared to the same time last year, according to data released Monday by an industry group.
Production among domestic steelmakers was 1.83 million net tons for the week ended July 16. That was down about 1.8 percent from the 1.86 million net tons produced during the week ending July 9, according to the AISI
Year-to-date, production as of July 16 was 56,118 million net tons, down 5.3 percent from 59,248 million net tons in the same period a year ago.
Shipping Rates for Coal, Iron Ore Fall to Near Two-Year Low
The cost of shipping commodities such as coal and iron ore fell for a third consecutive week, reaching their lowest in almost two years, as the world fleet of dry-bulk carriers expands.
The Baltic Dry Index, which measures freight rates for different-size dry-bulk vessels on global trade routes, has slumped by almost two thirds from December records. Ships with a total capacity of 11 million deadweight metric tons were delivered from shipyards this year, London-based shipbroker Galbraith's said in a July 15 report.
The Baltic Dry Index dropped 58, or 2.5 percent, to 2307, the lowest since Sept. 4 2003, according to the Baltic Exchange in London.
Thirty Capesize vessels, the largest dry-bulk carriers, were delivered from shipyards this year, adding 8 million deadweight tons, a measure of a ship's capacity for carrying cargo, fuel and supplies, Galbraith's said.
Capesizes can carry as many as 175,000 metric tons of cargo and are used to ship iron ore, used to make steel, and coal. Rates on the benchmark route from Brazil, the world's second-biggest ore exporter, to China shed 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, $23.39 a ton, according to the Baltic Exchange.
Costs from Australia, the world's biggest ore exporter, to China were unchanged at $8.83 a ton.
Pak Ministry to set up a 'steel board' to reach 15 million tonnes
Sources said that industrialists in steel sector had approached the Ministry to establish steel board to seek their problems in the steel sector. They said they had to face many problems and concerned authorities delayed in resolving their problems.
"Now, the ministry is considering to set up a steel board to provide them immediate help in this regard," sources added. They further said that their main problems related with power, gas and mining sectors that got always delayed and they did not even know to whom contact in this regard.
Government is committed to promote the steel sector as it had set target of 15 million tons steel production by 2015 and taking all initiatives to get the story a success. This board will help explore the deposits of iron ore in different areas of the country and shortage of raw materials will be overcome in this regard
Inco shares jump on Xstrata takeover speculation
Shares in Inco Ltd. jumped on Monday after an Australian newspaper reported that Xstrata Plc., fresh from a failed takeover bid for another miner, was now targeting the Canadian nickel producer.
Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner, last month won control of WMC, a uranium, copper and nickel miner, with its A$9.2 billion ($6.9 billion) bid, which topped Xstrata's offer by A$1 billion.
Under an aggressive acquisition strategy, Xstrata, which is the world's biggest exporter of power station thermal coal, has grown from virtually nothing in 2002 to a global player worth some $13 billion.
Xstrata Plc, the world's largest exporter of coal used by power stations, declined to comment on a newspaper report that it may bid for nickel miner Inco Ltd. We don't comment on speculation,'' Xstrata's spokeswoman Justine Winn said from Sydney.
Steelcor gets approval for land for expension
Officials say the recent vote by the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors approving the purchase 1,550-acres brings a planned $650-million steel mill project a step closer to reality.
SteelCorr's private financing includes $200 million from Severstal, Russia's second-largest steel maker; $200 million from a German financial institution called KfW and other European lenders; and $225 million from GE Capital and a consortium of others, including Stephens Investment, an Arkansas-based company.
SteelCorr will turn scrap iron into 1.5 million tons of high-grade steel a year for the automotive industry.
Shanxi Puda to double washed coal production
Purezza Group, Inc. announced today that effective July 15, 2005, it has completed its Exchange Transaction with , Shanxi Puda Resources Co., Ltd.
Puda, through its affiliates and controlled entities, including Shanxi Puda, is engaged in the business of coal crushing, preparation, and cleaning.
Puda currently has annual production of 1,200,000 tons of cleaned coal and management believes it is the largest cleaned coal processing company in the Shanxi province and among the top five in the nation. To further strengthen its market position and enhance its competitiveness, Puda is aggressively increasing its production capacity and planning to double capacity in 2005 and quadruple capacity in 2006 through new machine installation and acquisition.
Given the scarcity in resource and the robust economic growth in the People's Republic of China, demand for coal and especially high-quality coal is expected to be strong.
Chrometco a New Player in Chrome Sector Targets SA
A new mining exploration company, Chrometco, will list on the JSE later this month, hoping to appeal to investors taking a longer-term view on the South African ferrochrome market.
Chrometco intends to explore for chrome on a property on the northwest flank of the Pilanesberg and, if it finds viable deposits, it will develop a chrome mine. It will also investigate other opportunities in base metals.
Chrometcos planned listing comes shortly after three of SAs major ferrochrome producers, Samancor Chrome, Xstrata and Assmang, announced they would shut down some of their furnaces temporarily as a result of adverse market conditions.
World prices of ferrochrome - an alloy used in stainless steel - have corrected this year after last years shortages led to a near doubling of prices. However, the International Stainless Steel Forum expects global stainless steel production to rise 5% this year over last year.
