Aquila in talks with two bidders for Australian coal asset

Saturday, 17 Dec 2011

Bloomberg reported that Aquila Resources Ltd selling assets to help fund a AUD 5.2 billion iron ore project in Australia is in talks with two bidders for the sale of a coal asset.

Mr Martin Alciaturi general manager finance and corporate of the Perth based company said that “We remain in active dialog with two bidders and expect to announce a transaction in the near future.”

Aquila plans to develop the West Pilbara Iron Ore port, rail and mine project with joint venture partner AMCI Inc as demand for steel in China grows. The company is selling three assets, including the Washpool coking coal project in Australia and the Avontuur manganese project in South Africa.

Mr Alciaturi said that “We remain in active dialog with two bidders and expect to announce a transaction in the near future.”

Washpool is valued at AUD 263 million and Avontuur at AUD 120 million.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)

Usiminas expands iron ore reserves with three acquisitions

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

In a regulatory filing Monday, Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based flat rolled steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA (Usiminas) said that it will acquire Brazilian iron ore producer Mineracao Ouro Negro SA for US$367 million. Mineracao owns approximately 200 million tons of iron ore reserves.

Additionally, Usiminas' subsidiary Mineracao Usiminas SA has completed negotiations for the acquisition of iron ore miner Mineracao J. Mendes Ltda, SOMISA--Siderurgica Oeste de Minas Gerais Ltda and Global Mineracao Ltda with an additional payment of US$100 million. The acquisition agreement previously began in February 2008.

Mineracao Usiminas SA has also signed an agreement with Ferrous Resources do Brasil SA for the companies to jointly explore Ferrous' Santanese mine in Southeast Brazil.

Tags: iron ore , hrc , crc , galvanized , coated , raw mat , flats , Brazil , South America , investments , M&A , steelmaking , mining

Sourced:SteelOrbis

Mercator to buy one more coal mine from Kyra Putra

Mon, Aug 21 2011
By Vikas Srivastav

Mumbai: Mercator Lines plans to acquire another 25 million tonne coal mine in Indonesia from a local company Karya Putra Borneo in next two months for Rs 250 crore investment.

Atul Agarwal, MD, Mercator Lines, told Financial Chronicle, “We are in talks with Indonesian company Karya Putra Borneo for a coal mine with capacity in excess of 25 million tonne. The discussion is in final stages and we hope to conclude the deal in next one or two months.”

The company aims to take its total mining capacity to more than one million tonne while increasing the trading to around 8 million tonne from current 7 million tonne this financial year, said another senior company official.

The company is concluding the acquisition and expects the production to start from this mine in the fourth quarter of this financial year.

Mercator Lines currently holds 100 per cent in two mines in Petangis with proven reserves of 15 million tonne and 50 per cent in mines in Kalimantan proven reserve of 30 million tonne. This would now include the 45 million tonne acquired recently.

Coal business is expected to play a significant role in the companies overall business growth after it contributed around 45 per cent to the topline and around 50 per cent to the profit before tax in fiscal 2010-11.

Kotak Securities in a report said, “Going forward, Mercator would primarily concentrate on the coal business which would act as a hedge for the company against the cyclical shipping business.” The brokerage firm estimates the company will mine around 1.26 million tonne per annum from the current around 8,50,000 tonnes.

(sourced MyDigitalFC)

Shipping Corp to acquire 110 vessels by 2020: Vasan

Monday 7 March 2011, 2:36 PM

New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) Shipping Corporation of India plans to acquire 110 vessels of 5.21 million gross tonnage (GT) at an estimated cost of Rs 27,668 crore in next 10 years, Parliament was informed today.

Among these vessels, the Shipping Corporation is likely to place orders for 26 vessels by 2011-12, Shipping Minister G K Vasan said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

He added that the acquisition of the vessels would take SCI''s total tonnage to about 7.21 million GT by 2020.

Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship''s overall internal volume and is calculated based on the moulded volume of all enclosed spaces of the ship.

The Shipping Minister further said that SCI has placed orders for 36 vessels so far against the target of acquiring 62 vessels in 11th Five Year Plan, which includes acquisition of one resale vessel.

Of these, five vessels have been delivered while others are being built in different Indian, Chinese and South Korean shipyards, he said.

The Shipping Corporation currently has a fleet of 78 vessels of different types, having a total 3.19 million GT and total carrying capacity of 5.61 million DWT (dead weight tonnage).

During the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal, the Navratna company carried a total cargo of 23.08 million tonnes plus 1.27 lakh TEUs, Vasan said.

Dead weight tonnage (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry, while the twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals. (PTI)