Canpotex sells potash to India at 7-year low price |
- Canpotex sells potash to India at 7-year low price
- Jobs data light fire under gold price
- Chile mulls new investment incentives for miners
- More balance in reports: reader
- Zambia miners can’t afford 29% power price hike — chamber
- Gold smartphones options just got broader: meet the HTC One
| Canpotex sells potash to India at 7-year low price Posted: 04 Apr 2014 10:53 AM PDT Saskatoon-based Canpotex announced Friday an annual contract with India to supply approximately 1 million tonnes of potash at a price of $322 per tonne. Canpotex is the sales and distribution arm of North American fertilizer giants Potashcorp (TSE:POT), Agrium (NYSE:AGU) and Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) which together control a large chunk of the 55 million tonne global potash market. $322 per tonne including freight and insurance is the lowest negotiated price in seven years and follows Russian potash miner Uralkali's (MCX:URKA) deal earlier this week signed at the same level. The price for the soil nutrient is 25% below the levels reached last year before Uralkali exited a supply and joint sales agreement with Belaruskali and announced a move to a market-price and volume-based model. In January, Uralkali signed a first-half deal with a Chinese agro-chemical consortium to sell 700,000 metric tons at $305 per tonne. Steven Dechka, Canpotex's president and CEO, also said the distribution and marketing organization intends to expand its market development programs in India "to help provide Indian farmers with the educational and other tools needed to improve yields through balanced fertilization and best management practices."  |
| Jobs data light fire under gold price Posted: 04 Apr 2014 09:25 AM PDT The price of gold surged on Friday scaling the crucial 1,300 an ounce level after disappointing US jobs indicated US monetary policy is likely to stay accommodative for longer. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery in midday trade exchanged hands for $1,305.80 an ounce, up more than $20 compared to Thursday's close. Volume was robust with 110,000 contracts traded by 12:15 EST, compared to average daily volumes on the exchange of around 160,000. The US economy created 192,000 jobs in March against consensus expectations of at least 200,000 new positions. Some predicted much higher employment growth as the jobs market emerges from its winter lull. March sub-par numbers were not a train smash and the overall unemployment rate did stay flat at 6.7%, but after three disappointing jobs reports in a row – the Fed's key measure in deciding interest rates – supporters of the Fed's economic stimulus program are back in charge. US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Monday made very dovish comments about the bank's quantitative easing program saying "extraordinary commitment [to monetary stimulus] is still needed and will be for some time." The QE program together with other stimulus measures saw the balance sheet of the Fed cross the $4 trillion mark in January, up 400% in seven years. Monetary expansion across developed economies, particularly since the financial crisis, has been a massive boon for the gold price, burnishing the metal's reputation as an inflation hedge and storer of wealth. Gold was trading around $830 an ounce when previous chairman Ben Bernanke announced QE1 in November 2008. Not everyone is convinced Friday's non-farm payrolls will have a big effect on US monetary policy and that cutbacks in QE will continue through year end and that interest rates could start rising mid-2015. If the QE program ends on schedule and rising rates boost the dollar it is bad news for gold. Gold and the dollar usually move in opposite directions and investors would rotate into yield-producing assets over gold, which offers none. Marketwatch quotes Jeffrey Wright, managing director at H.C. Wainwright as saying: "As far as I can tell, this ship has sailed. [The] FOMC had a chance to restrain [the] taper and chose not to in February and March, with worse data points than an 8,000 miss on jobs". Walter de Wet of Standard Bank believes the rally in gold will fade and expectations this year of a rise in real yields on US government bonds, which negatively correlates with the gold price, will push the bullion price down. Gold is well off its 2014 high struck in mid-March, but remains up 9% so far this year. |
| Chile mulls new investment incentives for miners Posted: 04 Apr 2014 09:17 AM PDT  Aurora Williams, Chile's mining minister. (Image courtesy Chile's government) Chile's new mining minister Aurora Williams said Friday the government is evaluating new investment incentives for miners, amid mounting criticism on the a proposed reform to the country's foreign-investment law that calls for the removal of the DL 600 provision, favourable to overseas companies. Under DL 600, firms that bring capital, physical goods and other forms of investment into the country can ask to sign a foreign-investment contract with the government. The regulation includes a specific clause for the mining sector, applicable to projects worth at least US$50 million, which grants investors a fixed corporate income-tax rate for 10 years. Global miners operating in Chile, the world's top copper producer, are raising concerns over the DL 600 proposed abolition, but Williams told El Mercurio (in Spanish) she is already working with the Ministry of Economy on alternatives to attract and keep foreign mining investors. Companies already operating under the DL 600 system, she said, will be allowed to keep their current contracts. She also said the government is studying its upcoming contribution to state-owned copper giant Codelco, which warned last week it urgently needs a fresh cash injection to counter declining ore grades at its aging mines, as well as to deal with increasing costs and low copper prices. Currently Codelco hands all its profits back to the state, which later how much to re-allocate to the firm, often creating uncertainty in the run-up to the announcement and at times spurring disagreement over how much is ultimately assigned. Chile expects mining investment to reach $112 billion by 2021, figure that includes the $27 billion planned by Codelco. By the same year, the country's total copper production is projected to reach an annual 8.1 million metric tons. The red metal accounts for 60% of Chile's exports and 15% of gross domestic product. All mining operations and shipments are back to normal after Tuesday's massive 8.2-magnitude quake in the country's north. |
| More balance in reports: reader Posted: 04 Apr 2014 09:06 AM PDT Trevor Marr, a MINING.com reader, pushes back on MINING.com's oil sands' coverage:
CORRECTION: Lede was changed. Trevor asked us to correct stating that "a general statement about the article topics that are presented within this site", not the specific article by the Fraser Insistute. |
| Zambia miners can’t afford 29% power price hike — chamber Posted: 04 Apr 2014 07:37 AM PDT Zambia's copper and cobalt producers won't be able to afford the 29% increase in the electricity tariff approved by the state regulator earlier this week, which will affect mining output, the country's Chamber of Mines warned Friday. The price hike in Africa's second largest copper exporter after the Democratic Republic of Congo follows a series of standoffs pitting mining companies against the Zambian government, in a growing trend across the continent, as resource-rich states move to extract more revenues from global miners. In a statement, Chambers of Mines of Zambia chief executive, Maureen Dlamini, said the increase didn't take into consideration the delicate nature of the mining business, currently dealing with weak copper prices, down almost 10% this year. The body represents major producers, such as Vedanta Resources (LON:VED), China Nonferrous Metals, First Quantum Minerals (LON:FQM, TSX:FM) and Glencore Xstrata (LON:GLEN), which have invested billions of dollars in expansion projects in the country in recent years. Zambia's mines use about 68% of the country's electricity while less than a quarter of the population has access, according to Bloomberg. (Image courtesy Chambers of Mines of Zambia) |
| Gold smartphones options just got broader: meet the HTC One Posted: 04 Apr 2014 05:57 AM PDT
Other than the aesthetic changes, the phone's specifications appear to the same as the regular phone. However, the gold version will include a couple of new functionalities and according to HTC EMEA President, Phil Blair, "it will be very expensive." The pure gold model is expected by the end of April or early next month, and while no official price was given (it never is), it was disclosed that the Middle East market would have "global exclusivity" to the gold model for the first few weeks after the launch. The HTC One M8 features a full metal body and number of innovations including dual rear facing camera for capturing the depth of the image and a 5MP front-facing camera as well as introducing a new version of its Android UI, Sense 6. The M8 is the first phone to support 128GB SD card. The current phones in the market support cards of up to 64GB. |
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