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Mining Week 33/’12: Coal, copper, iron ore profit drops
August 13, 2012
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Top Stories of the Week:
- Harry Winston chooses between BHP’s and Rio’s diamond business
- Harry Winston, the diamond retailer that holds a 40% stake in Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine in Northern Canada, is in talks with BHP Billiton to buy the Ekati operation, also in the north of Canada. Both Rio Tinto and BHP are trying to get out of the diamond business as they can’t realize the scale in the industry to make it a core business.
- Titan, part of the Tata group, is rumoured to be interested in an acquisition of Harry Winston and might emerge as a competitor in the consolidation movement in the diamond business with strong financial backing.
- Sources: Wall Street Journal; Financial Times
- Xstrata’s profit drops on prices and volumes
- Xstrata’s operating profit for the first half year dropped by 42%. Approx. half of the drop is attributed to lower commodity prices, the other half mainly to inflation and lower volumes.
- An important message communicated in Xstrata’s earnings presentation is the potential of the company to continue stand-alone in case the share acquisition by Glencore (supported by Xstrata management) fails. Xstrata’s shareholders get to vote on the deal on September 7th.
- Sources: Financial Times 1; Financial Times 1; Xstrata presentation
- Rio Tinto profits down on lower coal and iron ore prices
- Rio Tinto’s operating profit for the first half year dropped by 22%, mainly driven by lower iron ore prices and higher costs caused by lower grades and higher stripping ratios.
- Sources: Wall Street Journal; Rio Tinto presentation; Financial Times
Trends & Implications:
- Xstrata is among the few companies that manages to communicate (or achieve) a unit cost reduction in its earnings presentation, probably the largest driver of positive reception of the quarterly numbers by the investment community. By breaking out the ‘uncontrollable’ inflation part the company communicates it has success in cost cutting, even though nominal costs increased year on year.
- Most large miners are stressing the discipline of their capital investments in the latest presentations they are giving, promising only to invest if a good return can be achieved. The most prominent example of a potential cutback on capital expenditure is BHP’s announcement that it is reviewing the expansion of the outer harbour in Western Australia required to lift iron ore export capacity to the planned level. While trying hard to show the investments are responsible, the companies also try to communicate that ‘the industry fundamentals’ are still solid, mainly using the projected long-term growth of China as explanation. However, Rio Tinto’s updated demand forecast graphs are among the first that show a negative Chinese trend after 2030 (in line with the model presented on this site). Knowing that a large part of current big projects in iron ore and coal are planned to build capacity for more than 20 years these long-term prospects slowly start to make their way into investment decision-making.
©2012 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com
Categories: Mining Week
BHP Billiton, business, Canada, commodity prices, controllable, diamonds, Diavik, Ekati, Harry Winston, mining, mining business, production volume, profit, Rio Tinto, Xstrata
Mining Industry Scenarios 2011-2014
March 11, 2011
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How could the mining industry develop in the period 2011 to 2014?
The mining industry is facing uncertain times. In response to the World Economic Forum’s ‘Mining & Metals scenarios to 2030’ I developed two short term scenarios for the mining industry. Both scenarios describe a plausible, consistent, potential development of the industry in the next 3 years:
Scenarios:
- In Red Wave, China’s government manages to sustain demand growth, resulting in high commodity prices. At the same time China invests heavily all around the world, forcing other miners to focus on organic growth.
- In Countercurrent, revaluation of the renminbi and high interest rates in China lead to lower commodity demand. Prices decrease across the board. Miners struggle to maintain positive margins. New project development becomes of secondary importance.
Full transcript of the video can be downloaded here
©2011 | Wilfred Visser | thebusinessofmining.com