- The Director's Special
- Posts
- Lawyers Called to Review Ellison's Tax Evasion
Lawyers Called to Review Ellison's Tax Evasion
Bellevue jumps 5% on Q numbers, BHP looks to lock in Samarco settlement
The Pre-Start
MinRes has engaged external legal counsel to investigate MD Chris Ellison regarding tax evasion reports, to which he has self-reported to the ATO (MIN)
BHP provided an update on settlement negotiations relating to the Samarco Fundao dam failure in 2015, advising the parties are negotiating a settlement proposal that would provide a total financial value of ~US$31.7b to stakeholders impacted, noting that negotiations are still “ongoing and no final agreement has been reached on settlement amount or terms” (BHP)
Bellevue produced 36koz (down 6koz) at an AISC of A$1,892/oz, reporting $11m in free cash. 222kt mined @ 4.5g/t, lower than expected, while it milled 257kt @ 4.8g/t. Debt amendment to complete this Q, with no repayments pre-CY27, leaving pro-forma $109m in liquidity & $100m debt (BGL) BlackRock increased their stake to 13.3%
South32 maintained guidance across its portfolio, received US$964m in cash from the Illawarra sale, & received US$100m from insurers (re: Groote) (S32) Misses at Worsley & Cannington meant a softer overall result
Predictive Discovery is progressing its DFS which is scheduled to 2H 25, while closing the Q with $42m in cash (PDI)
Ioneer closed with US$27m in cash, on track for Q1 25 FID (INR)
Strike reported strong flow rates from production testing from its Kingia Sandstone gas discovery (STX)
New World reported results from its Antler copper deposit, identifying further mineralisation at the northern end & a new zone 130m into the footwall (NWC)
Legacy Iron advised it will remain in suspension until it can re-comply with ASX Listing Rules, including finalising its HY accounts. They also intend to launch a $24.2m entitlement offer this week (LCY)
Hastings announced a B&M update with the appointment of Peter Phan as Project Director, current NED Jean Claude Steinmetz as Chair of project review committee and Bruce McFadzean retiring as NED (HAS)
High Grade It
Rio exec Simon Trott said all options are on the table as the world’s largest supplier of iron ore grapples with the challenge of declining ore quality (AFR)
‘Serious lapse of judgment’: Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison sorry amid tax evasion allegations (West)
MinRes board investigating Ellison’s alleged tax evasion scheme (AFR)
BHP & Vale made a fresh offer of $45b to bury the hatchet with the Brazilian federal & state governments over the 2015 Samarco dam disaster (AFR)
The largest mass lawsuit in English legal history will kick off on Monday as BHP faces a claim brought on behalf of about 620,000 alleged victims (FT)
South32 keeps FY production guidance despite mixed quarter (CB)
Sibanye expects operations at its Century zinc project to be suspended until mid-November after a bushfire damaged some equipment (Bloomberg)
India's trade minister said the country sought a critical mineral partnership agreement with the US as he hopes for talks on a broader trade pact (Reuters)
Nuclear energy stocks hit record highs on surging demand from AI (FT)
A flurry of rate cuts, political uncertainty, & war in the Middle East has catapulted the gold price - and miners Westgold & Northern Star to new highs (West)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he thanked Putin for helping his country secure sufficient supplies of natural gas (Reuters)
Egypt cut its 2040 renewable energy target to 40% (from 58%), keeping a focus on natural gas (Reuters)
Wheelin’ n Dealin’
DRC’s state-owned miner has submitted a bid for Chemaf Resources unit in the country, months after saying it intended to block a previous deal (Bloomberg)
Podium Minerals submitted a DOCA proposal to acquire EV Nickel’s assets, including the oxide rights and associate licences over its Range Well nickel project which borders Podium’s Parks Reef PGM project (POD)
GMB Resources executed a farm-in agreement with Wise Walkers for the Twin Hills project, with GBM receiving $6m in cash & Wise Walkers to sole fund $6m in exploration over 18 months to earn up to 70% (GBZ)
St George signed a non-binding MoU with global metal trader SKI HongKong to form a potential strategic partnership to develop the Araxa niobium-REE earth project, including potential offtake agreements and project finance (SGQ)
Havilah has agreed to a farm-in deal with HRE over its South Australian uranium assets, for 38m shares & a potential royalty (HAV)
Rattlin’ the Tin
Troilus Gold completed a C$28m bought deal offering (TLG.T)
Word on the Decline
Whispers of a Pantoro & Westgold tie-up have made their way to us
With WGX’s paper rebounding strongly, could we see a Southern Goldfields consolidation?
Higginsville and Norseman are only ~60kms away and there are probably some synergies to be had here. Lets see if there’s any substance to the rumours as time goes on
Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
Hopgood Ganim are half way through their Aussie takeover defence series, part 5 focusing on formalising the deal & exclusivity (HG)
How iron ore mining works! (Aaron Witt YouTube)
Have Australian fund managers got their lithium call wrong? (AFR)
Metals trader IXM bids to become China’s answer to Glencore (FT)
Minter Ellison provides some commentary on the The Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and what it means for foreign investment into Australia (ME)
Quebec’s Mining Act reform to squeeze speculators (MiningNews)
All In Podcast - Debate on the merits of nuclear (YouTube) Starts ~45min in
The Climate Short: Hedge funds pile up huge bets against green future (Bloomberg) Funds are net short batteries, solar, EVs & hydrogen
Today’s Top Tweet
Devil’s in the Detail
This from L1 Capital’s quarterly commentary this morning:
Catch up on our latest episode
If you haven’t watched or listened to this episode yet, give yourself an uppercut and then hit play
🟢Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🟥 Youtube
Reply