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IGO Confirms the Inevitable: Kwinana Write-Down

IGO Confirms the Inevitable: Kwinana Write-Down

Ioneer locks in US$1b US government loan, Pilbara poised for Cyclone Sean

January 20, 2025

The Pre-Start

IGO advised it’ll recognise a substantial impairment as a result of an assessment of the Kwinana Hydroxide plant carrying value, to be detailed on Feb 20 (IGO)
South32’s quarterly maintained guidance across all operations excluding Mozal (Mozambique unrest). Unit costs suffered from higher raw material input costs in the aluminium chain, with current half-year costs expected to benefit from weaker producer currencies (S32) Stock flat
Gold Road released a PFS for Gilmour, delivering an NPV₅ of $231m @ A$3,500/oz gold. The project would produce 50kozpa for 5 years at an average AISC of A$2k/oz after $36m in pre-production capital (GOR)
Ioneer closed its upsized US$996m loan from the US DoE, earmarked for the development of processing facilities at Rhyolite Ridge (INR) Up 17% to 20c
Element 25 was formally awarded a US$166m grant agreement from the US DoE for the construction of an HPMSM facility in Louisiana (E25)
Petrotherm’s has reported high-value mineral assemblage at its Rosewood project, main zone averages 25.3% rutile product (PTR) stock is up 14%
Predictive announced that Guinea’s Environmental Ministry has approved its ESIA and issued a certificate of Environmental Compliance for Bankan (PDI) Stock trading up 8% to 27.5c
Both Viridis and Patagonia Lithium are in a trading halts pending the release of an updated mineral resource (VMM, PL3)
Terramin is in a trading halt pending the decision of the Supreme Court of South Australia in relation to its Bird in Hand gold project (TZN)
Solstice has ended the quarter with $15m cash with the stock trading at cash backing and advancing its Eastern Goldfields projects (SLS)
Unico Silver shared Cerro Leon results, with 56 RC holes completed as of Dec 24’, with narrow and shallow hits including 2m @ 482g/t AgEq from 42m (USL)
Great Boulder has hit 3m @ 4.16g/t Au from 89m within 23m @ 0.94g/t Au from 89m from AC drilling at Side Well South (GBR)

High Grade It

Pilbara Ports Authority closed the Ports of Dampier, Ashburton, Varanus Island and Cape Preston West late Saturday as Tropical Cyclone Sean formed off the coast (Bloomberg)
Zijin Mining paused production at its Buritica gold mine in Colombia after assailants armed with homemade bombs damaged a key power source (Reuters)
The FTC on Friday approved separate consent orders resolving antitrust concerns over two oil mega deals, involving Exxon & Chevron (WSJ)
Battery metals miner IGO has augured a “substantial” write down on its lithium refinery in Kwinana where operations are already on go-slow mode (West)
Madeleine King warned support for Labor’s renewable transition will evaporate if voters lose their lifestyles, as Albanese prepares to reveal a plan to get aluminium smelters switched to renewables by 2036 (Australian)
US government-owned utility Tennessee Valley Authority said that it’s seeking an $800m grant from the Department of Energy to develop nuclear tech (Reuters)
Lynas grew sales in December but was restricted by an annual limit imposed on processing facilities in Malaysia as well as impurities in its material (West)
DRC has launched a probe into the embezzlement of over US$300m from state miner Gecamines between 2012 and 2020, the justice ministry said (Reuters)
India has approved an investment of US$1.3b to revive state-owned steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (Bloomberg)
Germany’s opposition leader, who’s tipped to be the next chancellor, vowed to build 50 gas-fired power plants if his conservatives win the Feb 23 election (Reuters)
China's imports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products fell 8.6% in December from the same month a year earlier (Reuters)
One of the world's largest battery storage facilities — Vistra Corp's 3000-MW in Moss Landing, has had its evacuation order lifted following a fire (CNN)

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Wheelin’ n Dealin’

News surfaced that Rio Tinto & Glencore spent several months in negotiations in the second half of last year, 10 years after Rio rejected the same combination (Bloomberg) Talks are not currently active, Glencore demanded premium with talks of spinning off the coal unit
The US DoE finalized a US$996m loan for Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium project, an increase of US$296m from a preliminary funding offer (Reuters, INR) conditional on more funding and Sibanye Stilwater’s US$490m contribution
A minority shareholder in O3 Mining is urging Agnico Eagle to sweeten its C$204m all-cash offer for the company (NM)

Word on the Decline

I heard Money of Mine are back. Heard it through the grapevine. Don't mention me as the source, ok. 🤫
— Praise ꓘeK Inquisitor (@PraiseKek)
11:36 PM • Jan 19, 2025

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In the Weeds

The Wheels Fall Off… (Praetorian Capital) A somewhat more bearish outlook
$260b Rio Tinto, Glencore mega-deal would sideline Australia (AFR’s Chanticleer)
Why some investors are wary of any Glencore deal (Australian)
Global energy storage capacity has tripled in recent years, and they’re transforming the grid (Bloomberg)
EU should welcome Chinese car factories, says Mercedes chief (FT)
Top fundies split on rise in activism on 'narrow' ASX (CB)
A surge in gold prices has fuelled an increase in wannabe prospectors near Melbourne and almost 100,000 permits have been issued (Australian)
How Long Can Toyota Put Off Figuring Out EVs? (Bloomberg)

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Today’s Top Tweet

But we’ve got 60,000 people chasing 5,000 listed juniors, 75% of which are lifestyle companies with zero intention of building a mine. For context, Doge has 4.6m holders, and there are "only" 9,000 crypto projects...
3/n
— the_alu_can (@the_alu_can)
2:52 PM • Jan 19, 2025