Zijin Mining Group Co (紫金礦業), China’s third-largest copper producer, agreed to pay A$545 million (US$500 million) for Indophil Resources NL to gain a stake in Southeast Asia’s largest untapped copper and gold deposit.
The Chinese company offered A$1.28 a share in cash, 18 percent more than the last traded price, Melbourne-based Indophil said yesterday in a statement. Xstrata Plc, the Australian company’s largest shareholder and the majority owner of the deposit that it shares with Indophil, accepted the offer, a separate filing said.
Zijin may have to contend with attacks by local guerrilla groups that killed a worker and delayed work on the undeveloped US$5.2 billion Tampakan copper and gold project in the Philippines.
China, the biggest metal consumer, wants to own deposits to guarantee supply and limit exposure to rising commodity prices.
“China would have to satisfy itself that if it supported a development it would have the security of tenure and ability to operate in a safe work practice environment,” said Grant Craighead, a mining analyst at Sydney-based Stock Resource. “China needs security of supply and it is putting its foot on as many assets as it can.”
Fujian Province-based Zijin, also China’s largest gold producer, is planning to increase overseas investment because the time is “still good,” vice chairman Lan Fusheng (藍福生) said on Oct. 22.
The company has spent US$300 million in the past five years on eight overseas projects.
“The scale and asset quality of Tampakan attracted us,” Lan said yesterday. “We also value the experience of Xstrata in mining and dealing with the local community.”
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
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