Tag Archives: metals and mining

Kazakhstan increases uranium output

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan increased its uranium production by nearly 5% last year to 23.8m tonnes, media reported quoting the Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of uranium. Kazakhstan has been increasing uranium production for a decade. Analysts have said that uranium exports may be a good future bet as countries look to boost nuclear power.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Stock market: Tethys, KAZ Minerals, Centerra

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tethys shares dropped to their lowest price since listing in 2011, falling 18% over the last week to 1.75p. Our graph shows its fall since the start of December.

Problems at its operations in Tajikistan may have dented investors’ confidence. China’s CNPC and France’s Total, its partners in the Bokhtar oil project, have said they want Tethys to exit the venture.

Last week, also, the Tajik government joined the fray and said it might expropriate 25% of the licensed area, as production hasn’t started yet.

Commodities prices were stable, after months of depreciation against the US dollar. But this has not helped all miners in the region. In fact, Centerra shares fell, due to the ongoing controversy with its Mongolian operations. On the upside, KAZ Minerals continued its upward trend, thanks to the continued depreciation of the Kazakh tenge. Its costs are in tenge. Its earnings in US dollars.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Centerra- part owned by Kyrgyzstan rows over Mongolia license

JAN. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian gold miner Centerra Gold, which is part owned by Kyrgyzstan, said it would apply to the International Court of Arbitration over its dispute with the Mongolian government on the development of a gold mine. Centerra has said that the Mongolian government is taking too long to decide whether or not to give it a licence to exploit the mine.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Kazakhstan’s ArcelorMittal increases salaries

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Steel-maker ArcelorMittal Temirtau said it would retroactively increase salaries for its workers by 6.8% from Jan.1, 2016. The company, a subsidiary of India’s ArcelorMittal, operates steel plants and coal mines in the Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan. In 2014 and 2015, the company argued with workers and the government over salaries and VAT refunds.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Highland appoints new CEO for Russia and Kyrgyzstan operations

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Jersey-based Highland Gold Mining said it appointed a new CEO to oversee its operations in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Highland’s operations are mostly focused in Russia, but it is exploring the Unkurtash gold mine, located near Jalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan. Denis Alexandrov, formerly Highland’s finance director, takes over as CEO from Valery Oyf who remains a director.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s GDP growth slows

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s economy grew at 3.5% in 2015 compared to 4% in 2014, the state statistics committee said. The statistics committee said that the main reason for the slowdown was an 8% drop in production at the Kumtor mine. Production slowed at Kumtor, which is owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, when it enlarged the mine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kyrgyz directors at Centerra Gold argued against shares

BISHKEK, JAN. 13 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with local media, senior Kyrgyz government officials said they had pushed hard against the issue of an extra 4.6m shares in Centerra Gold, the Canadian mining company in which Kyrgyzstan owns a 32.7% stake.

Centerra Gold owns the Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s most important economic asset. The interview with local media again shows how far apart Kyrgyzstan and Centerra Gold are on their various strategies.

Kylychbek Shakirov, a government-appointed board member at Centerra Gold, told media that he and his two Kyrgyz colleagues voted against issuing the shares, as this measure would dilute the total stake that Kyrgyzstan owns in the company.

“The Board of Directors of the company at the extraordinary session on December 17, 2015, made the decision to issue 4.6m additional shares,” Mr Shakirov said.

“We failed to achieve cancellation of the previous decision because three members of the board voted against issuance of new stocks and 8 members voted for it.”

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Stock market: Centerra Gold, Central Asia Metals

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mining companies in Central Asia had different experiences this week.

In Toronto, Centerra Gold shares fell 6.6% to 7.01 Canadian dollars. The company’s optimistic results published on Jan. 11 gave its shares a short-lived boost at the beginning of the week, but the continuation of the row with the Kyrgyz government may be eroding investors’ confidence.

Kazakhstan-focused Central Asia Metals lost 8.2% in the week, but closed on an upward note at 128.75p on Thursday. Against this trend, KAZ Minerals gained 5% this week, closing at 94.5p.

Oil and gas companies continued to suffer through the lowest oil prices in a decade, now heading below $30/barrel. Tethys Petroleum, which had financial troubles in its operations in Tajikistan, lost 26% in London to close at 2.13p on Thursday. In the past week, Nostrum Oil & Gas shares lost 8.4% to 329.9p. Roxi Petroleum also lost 12.3% to close at 7.13p.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor beats forecast

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian miner Centerra Gold said it had exceeded its 2015 production forecast and that output would be stable in 2016 at Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, Kumtor. Kumtor produced 520,695 ounces of gold in 2015, or 97% of Centerra’s total production. The company said that in 2016 Kumtor will represent 100% of Centerra’s gold output. Kumtor is vital to the Kyrgyzstan economy, accounting for around 10% of its total GDP.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajik aluminium company receives gold licence

DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — TALCO, the Tajik state-owned aluminium company, received the rights to develop a cluster of gold and precious metals deposits in the area near Ayni, north-west Tajikistan. The Tajik government granted TALCO the rights to the deposits of Konchoch and Skalnoye for 25 years. TALCO will also build a processing facility in the area.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)