Australia / New Zealand

Investors and bankers on Wednesday said that BHP, the world's largest copper miner, is focusing on growing its own assets as it transitions to a new leadership. This means it will not be able to gatecrash a planned $53 billion merger between Anglo American Resources and Teck Resources. Anglo American, a London-listed company, and Teck Resources, a Canadian firm, announced their merger on Tuesday. This is the second-largest tie-up in this sector. The goal of the merger is to create a global heavyweight focused on copper. The deal was announced just over a month after BHP canceled a $49-billion bid...

The gold price was on course for a rise of more than a month on Friday, after reaching a peak of over a month in the previous session. This was supported by a softer dollar in general and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September. As of 0223 GMT, spot gold was unchanged at $3,412.56 an ounce. Bullion is up 3.9% this month, and on Thursday it reached its highest level of $3.423.16 in the last 23 days. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery were flat at $3.473.70. Dollars fell 0.4% overnight and were set to...

Brijendra Singh, chairman and managing director of India's National Aluminium Company said that the company will invest $3.43 billion in a new coal power plant and a smelter over the next five-year period. Singh, a New Delhi-based reporter, said that the state-owned aluminium company will spend around 180 billion rupees on the construction of the smelter proposed in Odisha in eastern India. He added that the project would be funded by a combination of internal accruals and debt. Singh stated that the remaining 120 billion rupees would be used for a coal-fired power plant. Coal India and NTPC are in...

Shares in Australia's Whitehaven Coal bounced back from early declines on Thursday, as the miner posted a smaller-than-expected decline in annual profit and plans to boost shareholder returns. The largest independent coal mining company in Australia announced a final payout of 6 Australian cents for each share. This was higher than the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 5 Australian cents. Whitehaven also plans to spend A$48million on share buybacks. The shares ended the day 3.1% higher, at A$6.63, ending a losing streak of six sessions. Stocks had fallen more than 4% in the morning after the results. Whitehaven reported a...

The Australian government announced on Tuesday that it would provide A$135 (US$87.4M) in financial assistance to two smelters in Australia's southern region owned by Nyrstar. Nyrstar is a subsidiary of commodity trader Trafigura. Trafigura placed its Port Pirie lead-smelting operations, in South Australia, and its zinc processing operation in Hobart in Tasmania under strategic review in early this year after high energy costs and lower processing fees rendered the businesses unprofitable. Nyrstar, as part of its review, assessed the potential of producing antimony, a critical mineral, at its Port Pirie facility, but it would require government assistance to do so....

Shares of Viva Energy fell as much as 11 percent on Monday, after the Australian fuel retailer reported a decline in convenience sales in the first half due to new tobacco laws. The stock dropped up to 11.4%, to A$1.94, its lowest level since June 10 and set to suffer its largest single-day percentage decline since late February. The company stated that it expected its group-level earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortisation to be A$300 (A$195.4) million on a replacement costs basis. This is well below the A$452 reported a year earlier. Convenience sales fell 10% on an annual...

Around the globe, green hydrogen developers are cancelling their projects and reducing investments. This could lead to a longer-than-targeted reliance on fossil energy. The sector's initial goals have been exposed as being unrealistic due to the challenges it faces. Green hydrogen is prohibitively expensive for industries that are hard to electrify, like steelmaking and long distance transportation. Jun Sasamura is the hydrogen manager for Westwood Global Energy. He said that the gap between European ambitions and actuality shows the magnitude of the industry's reset. He said that only a fifth (or less) of all planned hydrogen projects in the European...

Ampol Ltd, Australia's largest fuel retailer, forecast lower half-year earnings on Wednesday as the sea-freight situation impacted its supply chains. It also reported a 1,1% decline in its Lytton Refinery's second-quarter margins. The company anticipates that first-half earnings will be A$400m ($262.04m) on a replacement costs basis, compared to A$502.1m a year ago. The company's second-quarter refinery margin in Queensland at its Lytton Refinery, one of its key assets, dropped to $8.71 a barrel, from $8.81 a barrel last year. The Queensland refinery has suffered from a number of operational disruptions, including planned maintenance, and loss of production due to...

During a meeting on Tuesday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Beijing, President Xi Jinping stated that China was ready to work with Australia for the purpose of deepening bilateral ties. China is trying to regain its footing in the region as a result of this meeting. Capitalise The U.S. President Donald Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on trade. China is attempting to counter this by portraying itself as a reliable and stable partner. Chinese officials expressed an interest in expanding the decade-old free-trade agreement and collaborating in artificial intelligence. Xi stated at the beginning of the meeting that...

Australia announced on Friday that it will invest A$432,000,000 ($283.82,000,000) in a project to produce green hydrogen, led by Orica. Orica is the largest explosives manufacturer in the world. The investment supports the industry's growth amid a recent wave of cancelled and delayed projects. The funding will be used to support the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub. This hub aims at decarbonising Orica's nearby explosives and ammonia manufacturing operations, and ultimately supplying green ammonia fuel for export. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said that the funding of the project on Australia's east coast would help secure the...

AGL Energy announced on Friday that it has acquired South Australia's Virtual Power Plant from Tesla. The Australian power retailer is looking to increase its battery storage to help drive the green energy transition. AGL is aiming to achieve zero net carbon emissions in 2035 by implementing grid-scale storage projects of 1.4 gigawatts. AGL will be able to access residential solar and battery system networks consisting of approximately 7,000 Powerwall batteries. More are expected to be installed in this year. SAVPP is an extensive network of Powerwall and solar home battery systems installed in South Australian community and social housing....

Bunge Global, a global agribusiness, announced that it had officially closed the long-delayed $34 billion mega deal with Glencore-backed Viterra. This announcement was made two years ago. The merger creates a global crop trading and processing giant that is poised to rival agribusiness giants Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill, at a time when slumping grain prices, weak crop-processing margins and geopolitical tensions have eroded profitability in the sector. Bunge closed Wednesday's trading 1.4% higher. Bunge, based in Missouri, has experienced a dramatic turn-around since the deal was announced. In April 2019, Greg Heckman took over as CEO of the company after Soren...

Four sources familiar with the matter said that more than 20 Australian companies, including Trafigura's Nyrstar unit, will be heading to the U.S. to explore possible areas of collaboration next week. The Australian Trade and Investment Commission will lead a delegation to Washington and New York for meetings with senior officials of the Trump administration. The trip was described as routine by sources, but the companies are expected to arrive soon after the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with President Donald Trump about the opportunities for the critical minerals companies of both countries in the last week. Albanese, the...

Embraer's CEO said that the Brazilian planemaker expects to achieve 100 commercial aircraft deliveries annually in 2028. He added that supply chain problems will likely prevent Embraer from reaching that milestone sooner. As part of its recovery after the industry crisis caused by the pandemic, the world's third largest planemaker increased annual deliveries. It expects between 77-85 commercial jet deliveries in 2019, up from 73 last year. Embraer's CEO Francisco Gomes Neto warned that supply-chain snags could limit Embraer's production plans. The company last delivered 100 commercial jets annually in 2017. In an interview with a newspaper on Wednesday, he...

Berkeley, a British homebuilder, reaffirmed Friday its profit forecasts for fiscal years 2026-2027 and reported stable sales over the first four-month period of fiscal 2026. Housing market in the UK is facing renewed uncertainty, as high borrowing costs are causing affordability issues. Planning and regulatory obstacles also compound the situation. Developers, such as Persimmon, Barratt Redrow and others, are increasingly using incentives and discounts to boost demand. Berkeley has maintained its forecasted pre-tax profit of 450 millions pounds ($607,9 million) for year ending April 30th 2026. It also projected a similar result for fiscal 2027. LSEG data shows that analysts...

JX Advanced Metals is likely to cut its copper production in fiscal 2025 by tens or thousands of tons compared to earlier plans. The company will also unveil a roadmap for reducing smelting capacities by March. Due to the shortage of concentrate and increasing smelting capacity, Japanese copper smelters have been struggling with tumbling treatments and refining costs (TC/RCs). Some Chinese smelters processed copper at no cost for Chilean miner Antofagasta in June. This was a record-low. Hayashi said this week that "in the short-term, we plan on reducing annual electrolytic output by several tens thousands of tons compared to...

In a telephone call with Donald Trump, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday evening discussed ways for Australia and United States to collaborate on vital minerals. This was confirmed by his office. Albanese’s office released a statement saying that the two leaders discussed ways to collaborate on important minerals and trade "in both nations' interests". It added that they also discussed the importance shared security interests. Albanese said on social media it was "a warm and constructive conversation." Albanese was reelected leader of the center-left Labor Government in a national election in May. He has yet to meet...

Investors kept their distance from the market ahead of important economic data to get a sense of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy. As of 0024 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 was down by 0.5% to 8,854.20. The benchmark index ended Tuesday 0.3% lower. If the current momentum continues, the benchmark index is on course to record its fourth consecutive day of losses. The benchmark index has fallen 1.3% this month as traders lock in profits after its strongest August performance since 2009 The economic data for Australia's second quarter GDP is due to be released later today. Investors will...

The Australian Competition Regulator said that the appeals of steel producer BlueScope, and its former General Manager against an earlier ruling in a civil anti-cartel proceeding brought by BlueScope were dismissed by a court. The court confirmed its previous findings, that BlueScope's former general manager and BlueScope tried to convince distributors in Australia to enter into agreements containing price-fixing clauses between September 2013 and July 2014. In 2019, Australia's Competition regulator initiated civil cartel actions against the company, and its former employee. The alleged conduct was in the supply flat steel products. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission stated that the...

In an interview, Alvaro Garcia, the newly appointed Economy minister of Chile, said that he expects Codelco - a state-owned copper producer – and SQM - a local miner – to complete a major partnership deal with lithium before 2026 when the current administration leaves. Some presidential candidates have stated that they will review or cancel the deal if it is not completed before President Gabriel Boric leaves the office. This puts pressure on the administration to complete the crucial pillar in its pledge to increase the role of the state in lithium production. This is our immediate goal. "We...

Malaysia said that China is willing to offer technical and technological assistance to Malaysia in the rare earths industry, but it only wants to work with state-owned companies. Malaysia is working to improve its rare earths processing and mining capabilities to capitalize on the growing global demand for these critical minerals, which are used in many products such as semiconductor chips, electric cars, and military equipment. China, which is the top rare earth miner and processor in the world, has tightened export restrictions to protect its position. Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability minister Johari Abdul Ghani stated in a...

South32, a diversified Australian miner, is closely monitoring the alumina developments occurring in Indonesia. The CEO Graham Kerr stated on Thursday that South32 will be watching to see if they drag down the prices of tin in the global markets in the same manner as its nickel industry. In recent years, Indonesia has increased its production of nickel to make it the world's largest supplier. This is a result of Indonesian efforts to increase domestic processing. Since then, the Indonesian government has sought to replicate this success on other markets. Last year, Indonesia became a net exporter for alumina. Alumina...

KoBold Metals - the mining company owned by U.S. billionaires Jeff Bezos & Bill Gates - has been granted seven permits for the search of lithium and other minerals within the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was announced on Wednesday. In July, the Central African nation signed a contract with KoBold that allowed it to begin a large-scale exploration program for minerals. KoBold also acquired Manono, a lithium deposit that is considered to be one of the largest in the world. A company official said that "our exploration efforts will be centered on lithium" across the seven new licenses. Four...

Critical Metals announced on Tuesday that it had signed a 10-year contract to supply heavy rare-earth concentrate to Ucore Rare Metal’s U.S. Government-funded Louisiana processing plant. The Tanbreez Project, a Greenland-based mining project in the development stage, is expected to produce up to 10,000 tons of concentrate per year. This represents 10% of initial production projections. The U.S. is looking to increase domestic production of essential minerals in order to counter China's near total control over the sector. Ucore Louisiana's facility received $18.4 Million from the U.S. Defense Department to begin construction on phase one of four. The company expects...