en_矿业资讯

Leading gold producer sees output reach record high

Source: www.chinamining.org        Citation: Reuters    Date: June 16, 2016

Chinese steel and iron ore futures dropped for a second day on Wednesday, reflecting concerns over weak demand as construction activity slows during the summer.

After months of strong steel production as mills responded to a rally in prices earlier this year, output in China, the world`s top producer, could slow along with consumption, the China Iron and Steel Association warned.

"With waning demand and falling steel prices as summer enters, and against the backdrop of cutting overcapacity, there is a small possibility that steel production would continue expanding, and iron ore demand will unlikely rise," the industry group said in a report on its website.

China`s crude steel output rose 1.8 percent to 70.5 million tonnes in May from a year ago, the second time production topped 70 million tonnes this year, government data showed on Monday.

Output hit a record high of 70.65 million tonnes in March when a surge in steel prices spurred mills to boost output and the shuttered ones to resume operations.

Along with the summer lull, the momentum to build new housing units in China has somewhat cooled off, curbing future steel demand, said Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau.

The most-traded rebar, or reinforcing steel used in construction, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 2.3 percent at 2,076 yuan a tonne by 0308 GMT.

On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the most-active iron ore slipped 1.9 percent to 358.50 yuan a tonne.

Deals in the physical iron ore market were scarce this week, with little appetite for fresh seaborne cargoes and those stocked at China`s ports, traders said.

Iron ore for immediate delivery to China`s Tianjin port fell 1.9 percent to $50.80 a tonne on Tuesday, the lowest since June 6, according to The Steel Index.

The spot benchmark is 26 percent below this year`s peak reached in April, as the steelmaking raw material tracked the ensuing decline in Chinese steel prices.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

Leading gold producer sees output reach record high

Source: www.chinamining.org     Citation: Xinhua    Date: June 15, 2016

China National Gold Group Corp (CNGGC), the country`s leading gold producer, said on Tuesday that its output reached a record high of 16.9 tons during the first five months of the year, up 8.93 percent year on year.

Despite low gold prices, the company made 515 million yuan ($78.27 million) in profits during the period.

China`s gold industry is in a downturn. Revenues of the top 10 gold companies amounted to 86.4 billion yuan during the first quarter, down 1.88 percent from one year earlier.

The gold industry is faced with not only complex and demanding challenges, but also great development opportunities, said Song Xin, general manager of CNGGC.

Technological innovation is the most effective way to improve gold producers` competitiveness, Song said, adding that the company will continue to enhance its innovation capacity.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

China`s potential oil, natural gas reserves rise: official data

Source: www.chinamining.org        Citation: Xinhua     Date: June 14, 2016

China`s estimated oil and natural gas reserves have risen markedly in the past few years as prospecting has increased, the latest official assessment showed.

Potential oil resources now reach 126 billion tonnes, with an extractable amount of 30 billion tonnes, the Ministry of Land and Resources announced Monday, citing results of a national assessment completed in 2015.

The numbers are up 64 percent and 42 percent, respectively, from the the last such assessment in 2007, the ministry said.

The country is estimated to have 90 trillion cubic meters of natural gas resources, 50 trillion of which can be exploited, up 158 percent and 127 percent from the last assessment.

The ministry attributed the growth to increased exploration and better technology.

China is thought to be rich in unconventional oil and gas resources, with 122 trillion cubic meters of shale gas no more than 4,500 meters underground, 22 trillion of which is exploitable, according to the ministry.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

Inner Mongolia coal output in sharp decline

Source: www.chinamining.org    Citation: Xinhua    Date: May 25, 2016

China`s second-largest coal-producing region, Inner Mongolia, saw a 16.8-percent decline in coal output in the first four months of the year as it pushed forward supply-side reform.

The northern region churned out 250.9 million tonnes of raw coal in the Jan.-April period, its coal mine safety department said on Tuesday.

Facing excess capacity, the region has been moving to slash coal production capacity.

Major state-owned mines are the most affected as they slashed output by nearly one third to 192.5 million tonnes in the four months.

Boosted by the sharp decline in output and a recovering economy, China`s coal prices have started to rise, ending a slump that has lasted for several years amid a slowing economy, the department said.

The rise in prices, however, triggered output increases of up to 374 percent at smaller state-owned mines.

Shanxi, the country`s largest coal-producing region, has also been rolling out measures to advance supply-side reform.

The Shanxi provincial government said on Monday that it would stop approving new coal mining projects and slash coal production capacity by over 100 million tonnes in the years to 2020.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

Russian oil exports to China hit record high in April

Source: www.chinamining.org        Citation: www.rt.com     Date: May 24, 2016

Beijing has ramped up imports of Russian oil by 52.4 percent last month compared to a year earlier. China`s General Administration of Customs calculated a record 4.81 million tons.

In March, China bought 4.65 million tons of oil from Russia.

Russia, Saudi Arabia and Angola were China¡¯s three major oil suppliers last month.

April imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 22 percent year-on-year to 4.12 million tons. In March, China imported 3.98 million tons of oil from the country.

China increased year-on-year oil imports from Angola last month by 39 percent to 3.98 million tons. Imports from Iran in April fell by 5.1 percent yoy to 2.76 million tons.

An International Energy Agency report showed that at the end of 2015 Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the biggest crude exporter to China.

Russian exports to China have more than doubled over the past five years, up by 550,000 barrels a day. Moscow and Beijing have significantly increased energy cooperation, with a wide range of multibillion dollar projects.

Russian oil transport monopoly Transneft¡¯s Vice-President Sergey Andropov said in March that China is ready to import 27 million tons of Russian crude this year via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline. Supplies to China through the ESPO pipeline started in 2011 after Rosneft, Transneft and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed contracts two years earlier. Currently five million tons of crude are supplied through the pipeline annually, and this is expected to rise to 15 million tons a year.

Experts say Chinese imports of Russian oil are likely to stay high over the coming years due to long-term crude supply contracts and rising demand from the world`s second biggest oil consumer.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

China`s May iron ore imports stay robust, majors squeeze rivals: Russell

Source: www.chinamining.org     Citation: Reuters  Date: May 24, 2016

China`s imports of iron ore are likely to have maintained their recent strength in May, as top suppliers Australia and Brazil continue to squeeze market share from smaller rivals.

Imports this month are likely to come in around 84.76 million tonnes, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Thomson Reuters Commodity Research and Forecasts.

This would represent a modest increase on April`s official customs figure of 83.92 million tonnes, but be slightly below the 85.77 million tonnes reported for March.

Ship-monitoring data doesn`t exactly align with customs figures due to timing issues, but the margin of error over the first four months of 2016 was only 1.5 percent.

The data shows that 547 vessels are expected to have discharged iron ore cargoes by May 31 at Chinese ports, although it`s possible that some of these ships may be delayed in berthing, thereby pushing their cargoes into the following month`s official numbers.

The ongoing robustness in iron ore imports make sense given China`s steel mills are continuing to crank out products at elevated rates amid hopes for a surge in demand on the back of increased infrastructure spending and an improvement in building construction.

China`s crude steel output rose 0.5 percent to 69.4 million tonnes in April from the same month a year earlier, according to data from the World Steel Association.

This figure was slightly down on the record 70.7 million tonnes produced in March, but it`s worth noting that on a daily basis April output of 2.31 million tonnes per day exceeded March`s 2.28 million.

Amidst the fairly positive outlook for iron ore demand in the world`s largest importer, there is one factor that may be bearish, namely the rising inventories of the steel-making ingredient at ports.

Stockpiles topped 100 million tonnes last week for the first time since December 2014, rising from 99 million tonnes in the week to May 13 to 101.04 million in the week to May 20, according to data from industry website Custeel. <CUS-STKOT-IORE>

This shows that iron ore imports aren`t being consumed by mills quite as quickly as they are arriving, but the inventories are still some way below the peak of 113.4 million tonnes reached in June 2014.

The iron ore import data also shows the increasing dominance of Australia, and to a lesser extent Brazil, in supplying China.

Australia shipped 271.408 million tonnes of iron ore to China in the first five months of 2016, according to Thomson Reuters Commodity Research and Forecasts.

This equated to a 66.9 percent market share of the total 405.364 million tonnes imported by China, well ahead of Brazil on 20.9 percent share.

Comparing the Thomson Reuters data to the official figures for 2015 shows that Australia`s 66.9 percent share for the January to May period is up on the 63.7 percent it achieved for the whole of last year.

Brazil`s market share in the first five months has risen to 20.8 percent, up from 20.1 percent for 2015.

Together, Australia and Brazil accounted for 87.8 percent of China`s iron ore imports in the first five months of the year, up from 83.8 percent in 2015.

SMALLER PRODUCERS DOWN, NOT OUT

China`s imports from number three supplier South Africa were 16.01 million tonnes in the first five months, giving it a 3.9 percent market share, which is down from 4.7 percent for 2015.

Ukraine, the fourth-largest supplier, saw its market share drop to 1.4 percent in the January-May period from 2.1 percent in 2015.

This shows that it`s becoming increasingly harder for the smaller iron ore producers to compete against the Australian and Brazilian juggernauts.

But, conversely it also shows that it`s quite difficult for the huge, low-cost miners to completely wipe out smaller rivals, as might have been expected.

With the cost of mining a tonne of iron ore and getting to an export port in Western Australia state dropping to around $13-$15 a tonne at the mines owned by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, it would be logical to expect that only Brazil`s Vale would be able to compete.

But South Africa`s Kumba Iron Ore is managing to hang on, as are producers in other countries, such as Canada and Chile.

It`s true that outside of South Africa, the market shares are tiny, with Canada and Chile each commanding about 1 percent of China`s imports, but the point is that their share for the first five months is about the same as it was for 2015.

Despite holding all the aces, the big three iron ore miners appear unable to kill off their smaller competitors.

This suggests that in the absence of a major surge in demand iron ore prices will struggle to mount a sustained rally as producers will still be keen to fight for market share.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

China Sinopec to triple Chongqing shale gas capacity to 15 Bcm/year by 2020

Source: www.chinamining.org        Citation: Platts   Date: May 24, 2016

China`s Sinopec said Monday it targets tripling its shale gas capacity in Chongqing in southwest China to 15 Bcm/year by 2020 from the current 5 Bcm/year.

It also aims to increase its shale gas output in Chongqing to 10 Bcm/year by 2020, the end of China`s 13th five-year plan that runs 2016-2020, according to a news release on a strategic cooperation agreement signed with the Chongqing city government that was posted on Sinopec`s website.

The targets are in the line with Sinopec`s plan unveiled in March to double its total domestic gas output to 40 Bcm in 2020 from 20.81 Bcm in 2015, with 10 Bcm to come from shale gas -- all of it from Chongqing -- 29.5 Bcm from conventional gas and 0.5 Bcm from coal bed methane.

The company completed construction of the 5 Bcm/year Phase I of its flagship Fuling project in Chongqing last year and will begin building the second phase this year, Platts reported earlier.

The proven developed reserves in Fuling stood at 28.77 Bcm at end 2015, more than doubling from 13.37 Bcm a year earlier, according to the company`s annual report. Proven undeveloped reserves surged to 5.13 Bcm from 2.49 Bcm over the same period.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.

China`s 1st overseas alumina oxide project starts operation

Source: www.chinamining.org    Citation: CRIENGLISH.com     Date: May 23, 2016

A Chinese-invested smeltery was officially put into production on Saturday in Indonesia.

The smeltery, invested by China Hongqiao Group Limited and Winning Investment (HK) Company Limited, is the first giant aluminum oxide project that Chinese companies have invested in overseas.

The two Chinese companies jointly signed the cooperation agreements with Indonesia-based PT Cita Mineral Investindo Tbk on the aluminum oxide project and supporting facilities on Oct. 3, 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Indonesia.

The production line is part of the 2 million-tonne-a-year smelting plant with a total investment of 1 to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars which is operated by PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery, a joint venture which Hongqiao holds a 56 percent stake.

The factory, integrated with a self-produced power plant and seaport in West Kalimantan Province`s Ketapang Regency, processes local bauxite into alumina, a material for production of aluminium.

Indonesia, the world`s main nickel ore exporter and supplier of bauxite, banned raw ore export in early 2014 to encourage the building of smelters and shift exports from raw materials to higher-value products.

Hong Kong listed Hongqiao aims to produce 6 million tonnes of aluminium by the end of 2016, from 5.19 million tonnes last year. Hongqiao enjoys a much lower production costs than its rivals as it has its own power plants, in-house upstream materials and other production facilities.

About CHINA MINING

Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.

CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2016 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 22^nd -25^th, 2016. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 18^th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2016, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.