From BoA Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA, an iron ore...

From BoA

Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA, an iron ore jointventure between Vale SA e BHP Group Ltd, plans to raise $2 billion in freshcapital as part of its plan to exit bankruptcy protection, according to court documents. Samarco plans to raise the fresh funds from investors through a competitive process roughly 30 days after a Brazilian judge approves its restructuring plan, which has yet to be discussed with creditors. The proceeds will fund its operations between 2022 and 2027. The company said in the court filings that the capital increase is vital for its continued operations in the coming years. (Reuters)

China has released details of its first round of auctionsof non-ferrous metals from its state reserves, and the market reaction wasunderwhelming at best. The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said on Tuesday that it will auction 20,000 tonnes of copper, 30,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of aluminum on July 5-6. The rare auction of strategic reserves forms part of Beijing’s efforts to take the heat out of red hot commodity markets, which have seen metals such as copper and iron ore reach all time highs amid a surge in demand as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. However, initial market reaction to the announcement of the auctions would indicate that the volumes being offered are too small to make much of a difference in the world’s largest importer, producer and consumer of industrial metals. The amount of copper being sold is just 2.3% of China’s output of the refined metal in May, and 4.4% of imports of unwrought copper in the same month. (Mining.com)

Iron ore slid as investors weighed collapsing millmargins in China and higher weekly exports from top shipper Australia. Profitability at Chinese mills has tumbled since domestic steel prices took a beating from the nation’s high-profile crackdown on the commodities boom. Rebar and hot-rolled coil futures have slumped over 20% from the multi-year highs in May, while the China Iron & Steel Association -- the top industry body -- has already warned that steel prices would face a pullback as demand weakens. (Bloomberg)

Chinese steelmaking profits are sinking rapidly as inputcosts stay high and demand ebbs, suggesting that mills in the world’s topproducer will finally be forced to scale back operations after output hitrecords in the last two months. Beijing’s parallel efforts to rein in production and prices, to restrain emissions and inflation, have seemed contradictory at best. Achieving both might now be more feasible as the seasonal lull in construction activity and an easing back in pandemic stimulus measures puncture the market. Iron ore costs remain elevated, while coking coal prices are creeping back toward the record level set in May. Safety inspections have curbed supply from China’s main coking coal producing areas, according to Fengkuang Coal Logistics, while imports remain weak due to the spread of the pandemic in Mongolia and the ongoing ban on Australian coal. (Bloomberg)

Shipments from Australia including Port Hedland climbedto 19.4 million tons in the week to June 18, from 17 million tons in theprevious week, according to initial Global Ports data compiled by Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

China Baowu Group, the world’s top steelmaker, onThursday said it would join forces with Vale and Shandong Xinhai Technology tomake stainless steel raw material nickel pig iron (NPI) in Indonesia. Baowu subsidiary Taigang Iron and Steel, China’s second-biggest stainless steel producer, signed a framework agreement with PT Vale Indonesia (PTVI) and NPI maker Xinhai to jointly operate the Bahodopi nickel processing facility in Morowali on the island of Sulawesi, a Baowu statement said. (Mining.com).