NEW CHAIRMAN: MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Mr Andrew Michelmore was today elected Chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia Board.

Andrew is a long-standing member of the MCA Board and commences as Chairman immediately. He has been on the MCA Board since 2008.

The outgoing Chairman Mr Peter Johnston is standing down after three years in the role and has also stepped down from the Board after seven years to concentrate on his new role with Glencore.

Andrew is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MMG and has more than 30 years’ experience in the metals and mining industry including 12 years at WMC Resources Limited, where he was Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that, he held senior roles in the company’s nickel, gold, alumina, copper, uranium and fertiliser businesses.

In today’s Board meeting following yesterday’s Annual General Meeting, Mr David Peever, Managing Director, Australia, Rio Tinto was also elected as Senior Vice Chairman and Mr Seamus French, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American's Metallurgical Coal business was elected Vice Chairman.

The Board expressed its deep gratitude to Peter Johnston for his outstanding service and commitment to the MCA and the industry throughout some of the sector’s most challenging times.

Spain: Port of Valencia Modernization Underway

TCV Stevedoring Company, a Grup TCB company managing the transport of goods at the Levante and Llovera docks in the Port of Valencia, has received its fourth Super Post Panamax crane for operating large vessels up to 22 containers wide.

Developed by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZMPC), the acquired gantry crane weighs 1,600 tonnes, is capable of lifting 65 tonnes and is 44 metres high under the spreader. Its speed is 180 metres per minute hoisting empty containers and 90 metres per minute in the case of fully loaded containers. The new crane has a reach of 62.5 metres on the sea side and 20 metres on the land side, while the distance between rails ascends to 30.48 metres.

Acquisition of the new Super Post Panamax crane forms part of an ambitious investment programme developed by TCV Stevedoring to consolidate the Valencian facilities as a point of reference for productivity and efficiency in western Mediterranean ports. Four new RTGs will be added in the coming months, allowing TCV to increase and improve its service to its customers.

The operational capability of TCV has also been boosted by the 20-hectare expansion of the container yard area, which has been carried out this year and raises the current surface area of the terminal to 65 hectares.

The TCV terminal has a 1,660-metre dock and a depth of 16 metres. In addition to the Super Post Panamax cranes, its equipment includes four Post Panamax cranes, two Panamax cranes, 22 RTG cranes and seven reachstackers, among others. The company’s machinery is set to operate with all types of container ships.

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Corps Introduces Details on Little Wicomico River Dredging Plan

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, has announced a plan for the Little Wicomico River maintenance dredging project, located in Northumberland County, Virginia.

The estimated value of this deepening program is between $1 mln and $5 mln, and the solicitation will be posted on or about July 25, 2013.

The maintenance dredging of the Little Wicomico River will be performed by using a hydraulic pipeline dredger.

During this dredging project, approximately 20,000 cubic yards of material, which consists primarily of sand, silt, mud, shell and combinations thereof, will be removed.

Kazakhmys approves US$4.7 billion bid for ENRC

A key shareholder in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation plc (ENRC) said it would accept a proposed £3.04 billion (US$4.7 billion) buyout, even though ENRC’s independent directors rejected it.

The offer, unchanged in structure from an initial proposal that ENRC’s three founders and the Kazakh government tabled in May, was made in cash and shares. It valued Lonon-listed ENRC at roughly £2.34/share.

Kazakhmys, which holds 26% of ENRC, said it would accept the terms. 

As long as Kazakhmys shareholders vote to approve the offer, the bidding consortium will break through the 75% threshold it needs to secure control. The consortium already owns 53.9% of the company.

But ENRC, a Kazakh-based producer of ferro-alloys, said it cannot recommend the offer at the current level.

The chairman of the independent committee, Dr Mohsen Khalil, said: "[We are] very disappointed by the value of the Offer, which it [the committee] believes materially undervalues ENRC, its fundamentals, the intrinsic value of its underlying assets and its growth prospects.”

But a statement from Kazakhmys said: “The offer may undervalue ENRC and its assets but after seeking to engage with the…consortium and its constituent members, has concluded that there is no prospect of obtaining improved terms.”

It added that it had a number of concerns about on-going investment in ENRC should the offer not proceed.

“These include corporate governance concerns and the ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation into certain allegations involving ENRC.” 

When details of the initial proposal were revealed last month ENRC said the bid “materially undervalues ENRC”. 

Kazakhmys shares were trading around £2.19/share in early morning trading in London

Makhado coking coal project to cost US$406m

Coal of Africa Ltd has released a feasibility study for the Makhado coking coal project in South Africa’s Limpopo province, estimating US$406.3 million in capital expenditure.

Located on the Soutpansberg coalfield, the project would produce 2.3Mt/y of hard coking coal and 3.2Mt/y of thermal coal over the 16 year mine life at an estimated cost of US$88.71/t of coking coal net of thermal credits.

Coal of Africa chairman, David Brown said: Makhado further provides South Africa with a new coking coal producing asset in the region, utilising established infrastructure for domestic and international markets.

Regulatory approval and funding requirements are targeted to be completed by the first half of calendar 2014.

Officials Recommend USD 1 B for FY2014 Maintenance Dredging

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development completed its mark up of the fiscal 2014 appropriation bill for the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which includes a record $1 billion draw from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for maintaining America’s federal navigation channels and related infrastructure.

“AAPA congratulates (Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee) Chairman Diane Feinstein and the entire subcommittee for recognizing the importance of keeping America’s federal navigation channels accessible for the crucial movement of ocean-going freight and passenger vessels,” said Susan Monteverde, AAPA’s government relations vice president. “While AAPA continues to advocate for full utilization of Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) collections, which brings in about $1.6 billion in revenue annually, this is an important step towards full use of those revenues, particularly in these constrained fiscal times.”

The $1 billion amount for navigation maintenance dredging is equal to the recommendation approved on June 18 by the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and is consistent with the fiscal 2014 amount identified in the Senate’s Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) legislation. It is $110 million more than the Obama Administration recommended in its fiscal 2014 budget request.

“The appropriators’ action today is the first step in getting us to full use of the HMT as outlined in the Senate WRDA bill. The Senate’s bill is slated to achieve full use by 2020,” said Ms. Monteverde.

The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the fiscal 2014 Energy and Water Development Bill on Thursday, June 27.

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USA: Port Everglades Welcomes Channel Deepening Report

Broward County Broward County and Port Everglades officials welcomed yesterday’s news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing its draft report for deepening and widening the South Florida seaport’s navigational channels to enable safe passage of deep draft post-Panamax cargo ships.

Release of the USACE Feasibility Report with Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Port Everglades Harbor, Broward County, Florida, kicks off an official 45-day comment period in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

“This has been an exhaustive study process, 17 years, for the Corps to ensure that this project is economically and environmentally sound. The fact is that Port Everglades must have deeper water for the newer, larger generation of cargo ships that are replacing the older fleet worldwide, including those transiting the Panama Canal,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive & Port Director Steven Cernak. “We appreciate the dedicated efforts of our Broward County Commissioners, Governor Rick Scott, and our state and federal legislators, especially Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel, whose districts include Port Everglades, and who strongly advocated for the project in Tallahassee and Washington so that Port Everglades can continue to support jobs and provide economic stability to Florida.”

“We have reached a major milestone, but recognize that there are hurdles that we still need to overcome, and will, because Port Everglades is too important to Florida’s economy and must be able to compete in the global marketplace,” said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The total project will deepen Port Everglades’ channel from 42 feet to 48 feet (when constructed, the project will include an additional two feet of allowable overdepth for a total of 50 feet), and widen the channel entrance so that cargo ships can safely pass cruise ships docked along the Intracoastal Waterway inside the Port. The total cost for deepening and widening Port Everglades’ navigational channels is estimated at $313 million, which will be paid for through a combination of federal funds, port user fees and possibly state funds. No local tax dollars will be used for this project.

“The combination of our Port’s three priority cargo projects – deepening, adding new berths and building an on-port freight rail facility – will create 7,000 new jobs locally and support another 135,000 jobs statewide when at full capacity in 2027,” said Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs. “The Corps has studied environmental impacts for the project extensively, and has explored various mitigation alternatives. We applaud the decision to move forward so that Port Everglades can continue to be the economic powerhouse it has always been in South Florida.”

Public meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, July 23, 2013, at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center at 1-3 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.

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