Australia

Paladin Energy, an Australian uranium company, announced on Friday that it temporarily suspended operations at its Langer Heinrich Mine due to heavy rains in Namibia. This sent its shares to a record low of over a week. Paladin stated that the severe weather has caused access to the mine to be severely restricted and all activities suspended. The Langer Heinrich Mine, which is owned by 75% of the company, is an important contributor to its production. As of 2339 GMT the shares of Australia's largest pure-play uranium mining company fell by as much as 8,9%, reaching their lowest level since...

The Securities Regulator said that Australia's Federal Court ordered superannuation funds Active Super and SuperSuper to pay A$10,5 million ($6.70m) in penalties for misleading statements about their environmental credentials. The Federal Court found Active Super guilty in June of misleading statements about its environmental, governance, and social credentials. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission filed a lawsuit in 2023 against Active Super to challenge the fund's claim that it had divested itself from gambling, coal, oil tarsands and Russian investments. ASIC reported on Tuesday that Active Super had direct and indirect investments in SkyCity Entertainment Group and Russian company Gazprom...

The shares of Viva Energy Group plunged by 25% on Tuesday to their lowest level ever as the Australian fuel retailer missed its full-year profit forecasts and warned that challenging trading conditions will weigh on first-half earnings. The stock price dropped by nearly A$1 billion (635 million dollars) after it was listed in July 2018. This wiped out almost A$1 billion of the market capitalisation for the company, which is now A$2.86 Billion. Viva Energy’s underlying profit fell 20% to A$254.2 in 2024. This was below Visible Alpha’s consensus estimate of A$260.6, which had been provided. "Group performance has been...

Ampol, an Australian fuel retailer, saw its shares fall by nearly 10% after the company reported a sharp decline in annual profits and declared its lowest dividend in over a decade. Ampol announced a final dividend per share of 5 Australian Cents, down from 120 Aucents a year ago. This is also below Visible Alpha’s consensus estimate, which was 7 Aucents. As of 0010 GMT the shares of the company had fallen 4.3%, while the benchmark index was down by 0.6%. Ampol reported a net profit of A$234.8 (149.5) million on a replacement-cost basis for the period ended December 31...

Anglo American announced on Tuesday that it would sell its nickel mining business to an MMG Ltd unit listed in Hong Kong for up to $500m. A broader restructuring is underway to focus its operations on iron ore and copper. Nickel business in Brazil includes two ferronickel projects and two greenfields. Anglo will receive $350 million upon completion, up $100 million as a price-linked gainout, and an additional $50 million for potential project development, according to a company statement. Together, the assets produce around 38,000 metric tonnes of nickel each year. In January, the metal's price fell to a record...

Whitehaven Coal, Australia's largest coal producer, posted a 92.7% increase in production for the second quarter on Wednesday. This was largely due to strong contributions from its New South Wales mines as well as its newly acquired Queensland mines. The New South Wales operations of the miner, which includes Maules Creek and Narrabri, saw a 1.3% increase in their managed run-of mine (ROM) production. Whitehaven, who purchased the Blackwater and Daunia coal mines from BHP Group in December for $4.1 billion, produced a total of 4.6 millions metric tons of ROM coal for the three-month period ended December. This was...

Australia's Ampol estimated a steep drop in yearly earnings on Thursday as production at its Lytton refinery in Queensland was hit by operational restraints and lower refining margins. Shares of the company declined as much as 3.9% to A$ 28.78 in early trade while the more comprehensive benchmark index was down 0.3%. Production at the Lytton refinery was weighed down by a. refinery-wide steam failure and issues with its fluidised. catalytic cracking unit last year. Ampol, Australia's top fuel seller, anticipates earnings. before interest and tax on a replacement cost basis of about. A$ 715 million ($ 448 million) for...

The UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 hit an all-time high on Friday, supported by a weaker pound after much softer than expected retail sales data boosted expectations of an interest rate cut next month. The FTSE 100 increased 1.4% to hit record highs and logged its 4th straight weekly gain. The midcap index increased 0.3% and registered its best weekly efficiency given that October 2023. British retail sales fell unexpectedly in December, according to data that raised the danger of an economic contraction in the 4th quarter, adding to the obstacles facing finance minister Rachel Reeves. Gilt yields moved lower throughout...

China imported a record amount of coal in 2024, driving world imports of the fuel to an alltime high. So why are coal exporters beginning 2025 in a deep blue funk? For coal exporters, China is both their saviour and tormentor, as the record import volumes are only possible due to the fact that seaborne prices have dropped to multi-year lows. Rates for export coal have declined in order to stay competitive with China's domestic prices, with the world's. biggest producer and importer of coal driving what takes place in. international coal markets. China's coal imports increased to an all-time...

China's coal imports from Australia rose to their greatest in more than 4 years in November, custom-mades information revealed on Friday, as deliveries continue to recuperate from an unofficial ban on Australian coal that was lifted in January 2023. Australian coal imports were 9.3 million metric heaps in November, according to the General Administration of Customs, the highest because April 2020 and up 47% from the exact same month of 2023. Year to date, at 74.15 million tons, 2024 coal imports from Australia have actually currently exceeded last year's 52.47 million lots and are on track to top the 77.51...

Australialisted Vulcan Energy is in talks with lithium companies to licence its filtering technology, tapping a brand-new profits source as the firm commercialises its renewableenergy job in Germany, the CEO stated on Tuesday. Vulcan started producing lithium hydroxide previously this month from its Rhine Valley operations utilizing adsorption direct lithium extraction (A-DLE) - utilizing geothermal heat to extract lithium from brine deposits. DLE is expected to reshape the lithium market by speeding the production procedure of the metal used in EV batteries and electronic devices to hours or days, compared with months or longer. Vulcan has signed up with the...

Britain has barred Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and has frozen their UK possessions, the federal government announced on Thursday, in what it said became part of a new crackdown on ' dirty cash'. The procedures were the first step in tightening Britain's. anti-corruption sanctions program as promised in July's election,. the Labour federal government stated. These deceitful people selfishly deny their. fellow people of much-needed funding for education, healthcare. and infrastructure - for their own enrichment, Foreign. Secretary David Lammy said in a declaration. Dos Santos, whose daddy Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled. Angola...

James Hardie Industries, a fibre-cement manufacturer in the United States, announced that it will acquire AZEK Company for $8.75 billion (including debt) through a cash and share deal. The company is looking to increase growth by offering new products to homeowners. AZEK shareholders receive $26.45 cash and 1.034 James Hardie share for each AZEK shares, bringing the value per share to $56.88, a 37.4% increase over AZEK’s Friday closing price. In a joint press release, Hardie and AZEK stated that the board of directors at AZEK had recommended accepting this offer. AZEK produces wood decking and pergolas, as well as...

Institutional Shareholder Services urged Rio Tinto's shareholders on Tuesday to accept a proposal that would review the dual-listed structure of the miner, amid pressure by activist Palliser. Palliser urged Rio Tinto to merge its two primary listings in London and Sydney into one holding company. The dual-listed structure, Palliser argued, has caused shareholders to lose billions of dollars and is the reason for its stock trading at a lower price than its peers. ISS, a prominent advisory firm in the proxy industry, now recommends that shareholders vote to support Palliser’s non-binding Resolution for the Company to Review the Matter on...

AVZ Minerals, an Australian company, announced on Friday that it had won a court case against the Democratic Republic of Congo and China's Zijin Mining for the rights to the Manono Lithium Mine. It is now in negotiations with U.S. parties about raising funds for the project. The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce ordered DRC state-owned Cominiere, to pay a fine of 39.1 millions euros ($42.46million) for failing to comply with orders earlier to cease any action terminating its joint enterprise with AVZ. AVZ originally held the permit for the development of the Manono Project,...

The United Arab Emirates exported aluminium to the United States in the first eleven days of March. This was due to buyers stocking up on shipments before U.S. Tariffs went into effect on Wednesday. The UAE has exported 68.560.29 tons of aluminum to the U.S. so far in March before tariffs were imposed, compared with 16,124.88 tons for the whole of March 2024. Exports are at their highest level in nearly two years on a monthly scale. The President Donald Trump has imposed 25% tariffs for all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum with the aim of strengthening domestic production....

Western Mine Workers Alliance in Australia (WMWA), said that on Thursday, more than 400 employees at Rio Tinto’s Paraburdoo Iron Ore Mine in Pilbara Region had signed a petition supporting collective bargaining. The alliance launched a petition to begin bargaining in the mine for a first collective agreement after more than 20 years. The company's website stated that the Paraburdoo Mine is part of Rio Tinto's Western Australian operations. This operation employs approximately 16,000 people and will ship 328,6 million tonnes by 2024. The WMWA is formed by the Australian Workers' Union and Mining and Energy Union. MEU said that...

Australian shares continued to fall on Wednesday, briefly entering correction territory. Investor appetite was dampened by local media reports that the White House confirmed Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by 1.2% at 0001 GMT to 7,793.6. The benchmark index fell up to 1.6% in the morning session. It is now down around 10% from its February 14 high. This is known as a "market correction". Local media reported on the fact that Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump will...

Australian media, citing an official at the White House, reported that Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump will impose Wednesday. In February, Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to exempt Australia from tariffs due to the U.S. surplus in trade with Australia. Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing White House spokesperson KarolineLeavitt, reported that Trump had decided against it. Leavitt said that if they wanted to be exempted they should move the steel manufacturing here. During his first term as president, Trump exempted Australia of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs....

The company's annual report stated that Chinese state-controlled mining firm MMG Ltd put its Kinsevere Cobalt Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo under care and maintenance due to the unfavourable market conditions for cobalt in December. MMG approved a 2022 extension of the mine's life and added cobalt production to its current copper production. MMG reported that the extension project was finished in September of last year but that the cobalt facility was shut down in December. It said that "a flexible cobalt strategy will be implemented moving forward, adapting cobalt prices to market conditions and cobalt content varying...

After a series of recent accidents that left dozens of people dead, Mali has suspended the granting of permits for artisanal mining to foreigners. In the gold-rich Kayes Region, 43 people were killed by the collapse of an artisanal mine on 15 February. Thirteen artisanal miner, including three women and two children, died in southwest Mali on January 29 after a gold-digging tunnel flooded. A statement stated that the Mali Council of Ministers, in response to these deaths, decided to suspend the grant of permits for artisanal mining "to foreign nationals" at their weekly meeting held on Wednesday. The statement...

Jean-Claude Diplo told a leading industry official that the Ivory Coast is expecting to reach a record gold production this year. The mine Lafigue, which opened in 2024, will be a major contributor. To diversify income sources, the world's biggest cocoa producer wants to develop its neglected mining sector. Lafigue, located 500 km north-east of Abidjan, the commercial capital of West Africa, and operated by Endeavour Mining (a London-listed company), is expected to produce 180,000 to 210,000 ounces gold in 2025. Diplo's term as head of the mining association GPMCI, which ended on Friday evening, stated that Ivory Coast gold...

A small team of eco-consultants dropped sensors into the ground to measure the water level in the snow-covered fields of central Ukraine. This is where the largest lithium deposits in the country are found. The small Ukrainian mining company UkrLithiumMining that has the license contracted the environmental survey years before any mining operations on the undeveloped site. This shows how much more work needs to be done for a mineral deal between Ukraine, the United States and other countries before it generates any significant revenue. The President Donald Trump views the minerals deal, which he will clinch with President Volodymyr...

Arcadium Lithium reported a loss for the fourth quarter of 2018 on Thursday due to low lithium prices, which are used in electric vehicle batteries. After a glut of supply and a softer adoption rate for EVs, lithium prices have fallen more than 80% since their peak in November 2022. Rio Tinto has agreed to buy Arcadium, and shareholders have approved the sale. The transaction is expected to be completed by March 6. Rio Tinto intends to create a separate lithium division once it has completed the $6.7 billion purchase. The new business will take control of Rio’s $2.5 billion...