March 27th : Sumitomo eyes New Caledonia, Philippines for nickel…………March 27th : Authorities seize 15 water pumps………….March 27th : Gold Fields hints at buying a 100% stake in Philippine project…………March 27th : Rationalization of requirements, processes for new power ventures urged. MARCH 27, 2012 BY ADMIN March 27th : Sumitomo eyes New Caledonia, Philippines for nickel. TOKYO (Reuters) – Sumitomo Metal Mining Co (5713.T) is looking to increase nickel supplies from New Caledonia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands to make up for a shortage expected to hit Japan once Indonesia bans unprocessed nickel exports from 2014. Japan gets more than half its nickel supply from Indonesia and its top two ferro-nickel producers, Sumitomo Metal Mining and unlisted Pacific Metals Co, are expected to take a major hit from Indonesia’s new 2014 export law. “We are talking with the Indonesian government if it’s possible to export what it cannot process at home,” Nobu Kemori, president of Sumitomo Metal Mining, told Reuters in an interview. “We believe that possibility is not low given a lack of smelter capacity in Indonesia, costs and time involved in building new smelters, including facilities such as power plants. But at the same time we are looking to increase supply from New Caledonia, the Philippines and the Solomons.” Indonesia has said it will ban shipments of some unprocessed metals – copper, gold, tin, nickel, among others – from 2014 to improve domestic metal production capacity, boost supplies of refined products to the domestic market and increase government revenue. Indonesia’s ban on exports could lead to a scramble by global consumers for minerals from elsewhere, with the shrinking supply outlook ultimately supporting benchmark prices. Kemori said the firm’s 62.5 percent-owned Taganito nickel project in the Philippines will start production in July or August 2013, with output in 2014 seen reaching at least 27,000 metric tonnes (29,762 tons), or 90 percent of its capacity. An attack by Maoist rebels late last year has pushed back the launch of the project valued at more than $1 billion by a couple of months and raised the cost by some $100 million, he said. In 2010, Japan imported 40,000 metric tonnes (44,092 tons) of nickel from Indonesia out of a total of 77,000 metric tonnes (84,878 tons), according to customs-cleared statistics. Indonesia, home to the world’s largest copper and gold mine, accounted for 20 percent of Japan’s total copper imports of 1.3 million metric tonnes (1.43 million tons) in 2010. Sumitomo Mining, Japan’s No. 2 copper smelter, is boosting investment in upstream assets of copper, nickel and gold to raise its self-sufficiency in these raw materials, with a view that an increase in demand from emerging markets will outstrip supply, particularly in copper. “A slowdown of the Chinese economy is a concern, but its huge supply shortage of copper, estimated at 2.6 million tonnes a year, won’t vanish soon,” he said. Sumitomo now sells about half of its about 400,000 metric tonnes (440,925 tons) copper cathode output in overseas markets, he said. By Yuko Inoue and Yuka Obayashi, Reuters. —————————————————————————————————————————————————— March 27th : Authorities seize 15 water pumps. OPERATIVES from Opol Municipal Police Station and the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) confiscated 15 water pumps and 30 meters hose used for hydraulic mining during a joint operation along Iponan River last week. Misamis Oriental Vice Governor Norris C. Babiera, co-chair of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC), said the joint operation was conducted along Iponan River particularly on the riverside of Barangays Cauyonan, Nangcaon, Tingalan and Bagocboc in Opol town. Babiera said no one was arrested during the operation. “The machines were left by operators prior to the operation,” he said. Though no one was arrested, Babiera expressed his gratitude to the unified members of Task Force Iponan along with the Opol Municipal Police Station, RPSB, Philippine National Police, Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, Armed Forces of the Philippines particularly the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Army, non-government organizations and the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office. At least 10 personnel from Opol Police Station led by Police Senior Inspector Rogelio Labor along with 36 RPSB-PNP personnel led by Police Inspector Edcel Caramonte and 10 personnel from PPSC led by Police Inspector Sebastian Chua joined the operation. By Michael Andrew W. Yu, Sun Star, Cagayan de Oro. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————- March 27th : Gold Fields hints at buying a 100% stake in Philippine project. The miner has the option to acquire 100% of the Guinaoang porphyry copper-gold deposit in the Philippines after it exercised an option last week to take a 40% stake in another project, Far Southeast. Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest bullion producer, said on Monday it was looking to acquire a 100 percent stake in a second gold-copper project in the Philippines as it continues to diversify from its home base. “We have an option to acquire 100 percent of the Guinaoang deposit for a payment of $63 million and that option exists up until early next year,” Gold Fields Chief Executive Nick Holland told the Reuters Global Mining and Metals Summit. Gold Fields last week exercised an option to take a 40 percent stake in another project, Far Southeast, in the country after making a $110 million down payment. It retained the option to acquire an additional 20 percent in the project. Guinaoang lies about 4 kilometres (2-1/2 miles) from the Far Southeast Project and has a similar style of mineralisation. The option agreement was concluded with Bezant Resources to acquire the entire issued share capital of subsidiary company Asean Copper Investments, which in turn holds the Guinaoang porphyry copper-gold deposit. Holland has also not ruled out buying out its joint venture partner in the Far Southeast Project. “If the opportunity arose in these kind of assets, clearly it is something we would look at,” he said during the summit at Reuters’ Johannesburg office. “Whether or not we would be able to take a bigger stake in Far Southeast depends on the view of our joint venture, Lepanto Mining. At this stage they seem to be very happy with their participation in the project,” Holland said. Last year Gold Fields spent $1 billion on acquiring the minority interests in mines it already owned and operated. This saw it take 100 percent ownership of its mines in Peru and Ghana. Holland added that he thought the Far Southeast Project would be “very comparable” to the promising Wafi-Golpu project being developed by Harmony Gold Mining and Newcrest Mining in Papua New Guinea. Author: By Sherilee Lakmidas, Reuters. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————– March 27th : Rationalization of requirements, processes for new power ventures urged. GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The national government will need to rationalize the current requirements and processes for ventures on power generation facilities if it wants to resolve the ongoing power shortage in Mindanao in a shorter period, an official of a local electric cooperative said. Engr. Santiago Tudio, general manager of South Cotabato I Electric Cooperative (Socoteco I), said a number of companies had signified to invest on new power generation plants or facilities in Mindanao but most of them later withdrew supposedly due to the stringent requirements set by the government over such projects. “The problem is that, an investor will need to get 111 government permits and clearances for every power plant that they will put up and the processing of all these requirements usually take about two years,” he said. As a result, Tudio said power investment experts estimated that it would take three to four years for a power plant project to become fully operational. He cited the case of the 200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant of the Alcantara-led Conal Holdings Corp. in Barangay Kamanga, Maasim town in Sarangani that was slated to become fully operational by the year 2014. The construction of the US$ 450-million power plant, which will be operated by Conal’s subsidiary Sarangani Energy Corp., formally started in November last year. “The processes should be cut down to more reasonable level so more investors or companies will be encouraged to invest in power generation,” he said in a radio interview. Tudio was among the local electric cooperative executives from Mindanao who recently met with Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras in Manila to discuss various pressing concerns of the island’s power sector. He said they tackled possible solutions to the worsening power supply deficit in Mindanao that already triggered extended daily rotating brownouts. During their meeting, Tudio said Almendras reiterated that the government prefers the utilization of coal energy to ease Mindanao’s power supply shortage, which is pegged at an average of 142.5 MW based on estimates made by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). According to the NGCP’s power supply outlook for this week, Mindanao’s power generation capacity stands at 1,142 MW while the peak demand was estimated at an average of 1,284.5 MW. The deficit, which was reportedly caused by the dwindling capacity of the National Power Corporation’s hydroelectric plants, has so far triggered daily rotational brownouts extending to about 12 hours in several parts of Mindanao. In Socoteco I’s service area, which comprises Koronadal City and eight neighboring municipalities in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces, it implements daily power curtailments of one to two hours. In this city, Socoteco II implements two-hour daily curtailments but officials said the situation may worsen in the coming weeks due to the unstable condition of NPC’s power plants. “There’s no immediate solution to this problem right now and I think we have to contend with it until the Maasim coal plant becomes operational in two years,” Tudio said. Aside from the Maasim plant, he said they are also pinning their hopes on AboitizPower Corporation’s 200 MW coal plant in Davao City that was also targeted to become operational by 2014. He added that San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is also finalizing the plans for its proposed 150 MW coal-fired power plant in this city. SMC has been building up its presence in nearby South Cotabato province following its earlier acquisition of a major coal mining project in Barangay Ned in Lake Sebu town. Sultan Energy Philippines Corp. sold its coal mine project in Lake Sebu in June 2010 to SMC, which also holds the coal operating contract of Daguma Agro Minerals Inc. in the same area. Studies said the coal mining area, which is part of the mineral-rich Daguma Mountain Range, contains 426 million metric tons of coal deposits. Initial exploration and drilling results have blocked 55 million metric tons of reserves that can be mined in 526 hectares of the mountain range. Tudio said SMC was bent on pursuing their coal plant project despite earlier findings that the area’s coal deposits were not yet mature or fully developed. “But they (SMC) will reportedly be putting up a plant that were designed to process the type of coal deposits found in Lake Sebu,” he added.(PNA). By Zambotimes.