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Bulk Buys: Australia to blame for iron ore prices? Yeah nah
Mining
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- Iron ore 62 per cent fines prices were unchanged this week at US$188 per tonne
- Hard coking coal prices were up US$0.35 to $US111.13 per tonne at Queensland ports
The Chinese steel industry has pointed the finger at the concentrated ownership of Australian iron ore mines for red hot iron ore prices.
However, despite calls by China Iron and Steel Association vice president Luo Tiejun for Chinese government intervention, The Strategist reported that the calls were just hot air and that the high prices were a sign that the market is working well.
It noted that iron prices reflected the inefficiency of China’s own iron ore mines rather than any alleged monopolistic behaviour by the major Australian mining companies.
Not that Australia and the iron ore companies that call it home are complaining.
Iron ore exports from Australia are expected to surpass the $150 billion peak reached in the first half of 2020 while BHP and Rio, who both have extremely low operating costs, are likely to enjoy significant profits.
Speaking of the red hot iron ore price, it seems that the powers that be are taking things a little too literally with yet another fire breaking out, this time at Citic Pacific’s Sino Iron operations in the Pilbara.
While there were no reports of injury or indications about the amount of damage, the fire did stop production at the magnetite operation.
It’s been a red letter year for iron ore-adjacent fires so far, with Vale’s main iron ore export terminal at Ponta da Madeira in northeast Brazil in January and Rio Tinto’s Canadian berth last month.
Here’s how ASX-listed iron ore stocks are performing:
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| CODE | COMPANY | 1 WEEK RETURN % | 1 MONTH RETURN % | 6 MONTH RETURN % | 1 YEAR RETURN % | SHARE PRICE | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DRE | Drednought Resources | 28 | 21 | 10 | 360 | 0.023 | $ 56,131,824.48 |
| VMS | Venture Minerals | 25 | 75 | 228 | 708 | 0.105 | $ 125,779,235.20 |
| ACS | Accent Resources NL | 19 | -58 | 280 | 660 | 0.038 | $ 17,709,036.75 |
| SRK | Strike Resources | 14 | 40 | 198 | 600 | 0.28 | $ 67,961,923.70 |
| MAG | Magmatic Resrce Ltd | 12 | 54 | -5 | -35 | 0.185 | $ 38,033,780.23 |
| TI1 | Tombador Iron | 11 | 33 | 229 | 337 | 0.092 | $ 93,596,601.05 |
| RHI | Red Hill Iron | 8 | 71 | 233 | 268 | 0.7 | $ 41,914,704.30 |
| GEN | Genmin | 5 | 13 | 0.295 | $ 82,401,693.04 | ||
| MIN | Mineral Resources. | 4 | 23 | 89 | 188 | 47.42 | $ 8,983,832,743.20 |
| AKO | Akora Resources | 3 | -33 | 0.34 | $ 17,416,704.00 | ||
| JMS | Jupiter Mines. | 2 | 4 | 25 | 25 | 0.34 | $ 666,056,951.22 |
| MGX | Mount Gibson Iron | 0 | 12 | 34 | 50 | 0.9 | $ 1,067,325,460.20 |
| CZR | CZR Resources Ltd | 0 | 20 | -8 | 33 | 0.012 | $ 34,236,226.73 |
| RLC | Reedy Lagoon Corp. | 0 | -5 | 110 | 600 | 0.021 | $ 9,870,549.49 |
| SHH | Shree Minerals Ltd | 0 | 23 | 33 | 433 | 0.016 | $ 16,163,790.27 |
| LCY | Legacy Iron Ore | 0 | 13 | 143 | 750 | 0.017 | $ 108,880,554.79 |
| BHP | BHP Group Limited | 0 | 5 | 38 | 60 | 47.82 | $ 138,543,391,059.82 |
| RIO | Rio Tinto Limited | 0 | 9 | 29 | 48 | 121.96 | $ 44,579,355,139.26 |
| FMG | Fortescue Metals Grp | -1 | 11 | 29 | 104 | 22.38 | $ 69,215,131,356.64 |
| MGT | Magnetite Mines | -2 | 25 | 567 | 6439 | 0.06 | $ 167,103,582.27 |
| CIA | Champion Iron Ltd | -2 | 21 | 80 | 260 | 6.84 | $ 3,453,076,238.48 |
| MGU | Magnum Mining & Exp | -3 | 48 | 223 | 288 | 0.155 | $ 65,917,699.71 |
| FMS | Flinders Mines Ltd | -4 | -13 | 32 | 88 | 1.13 | $ 189,954,649.13 |
| FEX | Fenix Resources Ltd | -4 | 49 | 159 | 629 | 0.35 | $ 156,432,913.20 |
| GRR | Grange Resources. | -5 | 18 | 138 | 148 | 0.57 | $ 648,109,670.88 |
| GWR | GWR Group Ltd | -15 | 12 | 87 | 360 | 0.29 | $ 86,294,136.26 |
| IRD | Iron Road Ltd | -16 | -2 | 83 | 449 | 0.245 | $ 184,350,744.24 |
| ADY | Admiralty Resources. | -20 | -13 | 82 | 300 | 0.02 | $ 23,182,693.98 |
| CAP | Carpentaria Resource | -23 | 22 | 22 | 110 | 0.055 | $ 16,552,447.74 |
| BCK | Brockman Mining Ltd | -24 | 82 | 140 | 200 | 0.06 | $ 556,753,927.86 |
Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) +28%
Drilling has been completed at 19 targets within the Metzke’s and Lawrence’s Corridors, part of the Illaara gold-copper-iron ore project, intersecting a range of encouraging alteration styles at each target tested.
The program was designed to test for extensions to mineralisation at Metzke’s Find, Longmore’s Find and Black Oak and results are expected throughout this month.
Dreadnought is now preparing for field programs at Tarraji-Yampi and Mangaroon.
The company has secured a mining concession for its Tombador Project in Sento Se, Brazil, taking it another step towards starting production from the high-grade hematite play this quarter.
Production can begin once the company receives the environmental operating licence.
Tombador has a 10Mt resource and could have annual production of up to 3.3Mt.
Here’s how ASX-listed coal stocks are performing:
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| CODE | COMPANY | 1 WEEK CHANGE % | 1 MONTH CHANGE % | 6 MONTH CHANGE % | 1 YEAR CHANGE % | PRICE | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AHQ | Allegiance Coal Ltd | 10 | 47 | 121 | 77 | 0.63 | $ 131,710,345.00 |
| WHC | Whitehaven Coal | 7 | -23 | 23 | -23 | 1.32 | $ 1,352,763,943.92 |
| CKA | Cokal Ltd | 6 | -4 | 5 | 40 | 0.066 | $ 61,022,432.66 |
| PDZ | Prairie Mining Ltd | 5 | 7 | 7 | 76 | 0.22 | $ 50,238,119.58 |
| PAK | Pacific American Hld | 5 | 0 | 5 | 130 | 0.023 | $ 7,327,452.70 |
| SMR | Stanmore Coal Ltd | 4 | -6 | -4 | -30 | 0.7 | $ 187,932,407.00 |
| TER | Terracom Ltd | 2 | 18 | -35 | -22 | 0.094 | $ 70,839,117.22 |
| BRL | Bathurst Res Ltd. | 1 | -13 | -9 | -37 | 0.355 | $ 61,542,584.28 |
| NHC | New Hope Corporation | 0 | -15 | 9 | -18 | 1.18 | $ 982,181,356.76 |
| MCM | Mc Mining Ltd | 0 | 8 | 40 | -18 | 0.14 | $ 21,618,737.70 |
| TIG | Tigers Realm Coal | 0 | 7 | -23 | 55 | 0.008 | $ 104,533,618.94 |
| YAL | Yancoal Aust Ltd | -2 | -7 | 8 | -5 | 2.06 | $ 2,680,492,057.11 |
| NCZ | New Century Resource | -3 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 0.185 | $ 223,836,688.51 |
| AKM | Aspire Mining Ltd | -5 | -12 | 17 | 4 | 0.084 | $ 42,641,506.74 |
| BCB | Bowen Coal Limited | -5 | -6 | 19 | 24 | 0.062 | $ 59,579,660.24 |
| ATU | Atrum Coal Ltd | -5 | 2 | -81 | -76 | 0.056 | $ 32,588,172.57 |
| CRN | Coronado Global Res | -6 | -34 | -23 | -46 | 0.595 | $ 823,407,945.50 |
| LNY | Laneway Res Ltd | -8 | 10 | -21 | 38 | 0.0055 | $ 20,762,862.63 |
| NAE | New Age Exploration | -8 | 57 | 83 | 633 | 0.022 | $ 26,829,944.02 |
| JAL | Jameson Resources | -17 | 1 | -17 | -26 | 0.096 | $ 29,119,861.44 |
| MR1 | Montem Resources | -19 | -32 | -30 | 77 | 0.105 | $ 20,626,400.66 |
The company is edging closer towards starting metallurgical coal production from its Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, with progress being made on repairs to the access road.
Cokal noted the first 5km of work was completed ahead of schedule in the first week and that activity in the second week has consolidated this advance.
BBM covers 14,980 hectares with open cut mineable areas controlled by three major fault systems. It has a current resource of 266.6Mt with a coal reserve of 20.2Mt.
All regulatory approvals including environmental approval for mining at a rate of 6Mt per annum are already in place.
