Member Info for extrader

P.S. And, of course, an understanding of managing projects and politicians in Africa (or at least, the ex Portuguese-run bits of it).

Another bit of the 'wish-list' , surely ?

Bartolomeo has an interesting CV

https://miningdigital.com/supply-chain-and-operations/mining-profile-eduardo-bartolomeo-ceo-vale

with a background covering logistics and rail upgrade and major port expansion (to 230mtpa) projects.

.."In December 2010, with the acquisition of SDCN (Sociedade de Desenvolvimento do Corredor do Norte SA), Bartolomeo structured the logistics necessary to support Vale's operations in Africa, which allowed the construction of the Nacala corridor and the outflow of coal production from the Moatize mine in Mozambique..."

Oh, and he 's also spent time as ED of Vale's coal (and fertiliser) division....so is presumably on more than nodding terms with Gary Nagle.....and has a good understanding of the dynamics of the potash/phosphate markets...

Ho hum

It could be that the Vale CEO (no doubt a busy guy, heading up a $ 60+ bn company), is in the area for something a bit bigger than just the Omani MoU :

https://www.mining.com/vale-said-to-decide-on-base-metals-sale-worth-billions-next-week-brazilian-paper/

.."The board of directors of Rio de Janeiro-based Vale is to analyze binding offers on May 25 for a 10% stake that could be valued at $2.5 billion. ....

The base metals sale could be to a single investor or a consortium, one of the people told Valor. Candidates could be GM, the Canada Pension Plan, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and trading company Mitsui & Co. of Japan, Valor said it was told [ not forgetting Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, as mooted earlier today].

Ho hum

Hi Jiving.

...with either Mubadala or PIF cosying up further to Vale by buying a stake in its base metals division ?

https://www.meed.com/pif-and-mitsui-consider-vale-base-metals-unit-stake

Interesting times!

And there's (IMO) less, too.

Missing from the link MM provided was this bit :

.."Signed by Eduardo Bartolomeo, Vale’s CEO, and Reggy Vermeulen, Port of Duqm Company’s CEO, the land reservation agreement between Vale and the Port of Duqm also commissions joint studies to build a Mega Hub in Oman..."

So it's an MoU now ie a statement of intent, and the start of (presumably feasibility?) studies...

Early days still, then - and you have to question the economics of 3 competing facilities - but the 'mood music' is certainly improving....

'Clean iron ore ' is today's gold rush....and Vale's logistics division and business development teams are doing a good job of supplying the 'picks and shovels' !

GLA and ATB

Ah! the great Vlad....

He also said 'Trust is good; but checking is better'.

Which is also v apposite when talking about C-B.

World Bank support is a big plus : through its subsidiary Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA, it offers credit enhancement against country and political risks.

Here's a fairly topical (and recent) example of what MIGA does

https://www.miga.org/project/dp-world-dakar-sa-2

'Every little helps !'

The 2 examples of activity quoted are a bit ' same old, same old' : a small 47 Km road project in Ouesso (DSN's home town) and a potash salt project that has been in the works since 2011, at the time described as .."The potash salt mining project in the Mboukoumassi mining area represents an overall investment of US$1.6 billion over a 1,200 km2 area to be mined around Mpili. Annual production is estimated at 2 million tons of potassium chloride used to replace cooking salt in foodstuffs and as fertilizer in agriculture. The deposit to be exploited is estimated at 1 billion tons of potassium chloride over a period of 26 to 40 years..."

Also familiar is the concluding sentence of the opening post : " Liu JIn.. wanted the government to finalize the signing of all the documents."

Maybe 'this time it's different' ! Let's see what the next 5 weeks brings.

"Dum spiro, spero"

GLA

? Maybe Vale plans to satisfy its 3 x Gulf customers from this (expanded) source ?

It's certainly a busy time...in an incestuous industry !

Vale is concurrently mulling who to sell a 10% stake in its 'base metals' - copper and nickel - business, potential buyers include, GM, Mitsui, Saudi's PIF and Qatar's SWF. The latter being GLEN's biggest shareholder....

Let's hope Zanaga is still in the 'in tray' and not the 'too difficult atm' one.

Vale's own expansion plans for 'green iron ore' must be a longer term concern for the middling grade Aussie producers.

.."They are both intertwined at this stage. Who ever buys Zanaga will undoubtedly buy Sapro-Mayoko!!.."

Which brings us neatly back to GLEN and its Marketing Agreement for ZIOC :

.."Life-of-mine marketing agreement granting Glencore International the exclusive marketing right for all iron ore conforming to certain specifications produced by MPD, ZIOC OR their respective Affiliates from the Project OR in the Republic of Congo using similar infrastructure that is not subject to existing sales arrangements..."

I haven't been able to substantiate Obambi's reported comment at a local conference a while back that S-M had an offtake agreement with GLEN... (Matt?).

Ho hum.

Well, FWIW (maybe not much!), there's an 'S' connection one might make :

https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/thelo-and-db-to-build-us-1bn-iron-ore-line-in-the-congo/

for Obambi's Sapro Mayoko mine...a rail link that makes more commercial sense if it was 'tweaked' to include Zanaga product.

Thelo is a S African consultancy, J/V with Deutsche Bahn.

Deutsche Bahn is junior partner in Etihad Rail DB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etihad_Rail_DB

who have a J/V with Oman https://uaeoman.etihadrail.ae/

....that signed last week's MoU with Vale for iron ore transport.....

Ho hum.

Why not take it up with the company?

Depending on their responsiveness - or lack thereof - you'll have an extra data point to help with your eventual decision...

Certainly more productive than asking anonymous (but uninformed on this issue) posters on a BB?

ATB

And they're obviously not bothered about confidentiality...

hTTps://twitter.com/HumasBakamlaRI/status/1658805604696358913

Google translates as

"Bakamla RI officially uses the National Maritime Security System (NMSS), cooperation with the SRT Marine System PLC.

In short, NMSS is a system used to conduct real time supervision and monitoring in Indonesian waters and Indonesian jurisdiction."

;->

For GLEN, £ 5 a share (£ 1.5bn ) to exit Zanaga, retaining a minor royalty interest (and maybe a side deal tidying up its loans-for-oil outstandings) would be worth considering, surely?

Don't let the best be the enemy of the good : 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing....the concession has been running a fair while; there's an ever-present risk of underhand dealings (expropriation); DSN isn't in the best of health.

If 'Vale' or whoever pulls together a consortium that effectively stops others from coming up with a credible alternative, it would make sense for GLEN to bow ('reluctantly' of course) to the 'inevitable', take the money....and run, IMO.

Make sure you've got a stock of popcorn to hand !

Why 'namely Kumba'? Is there a read-across of some kind ?

Now on HL.

Instruct asap, b4 19th.

Oops! 16th June....got my RNS's mixed up.

The marketing rights (and related purchase undertakings) we're talking about are part of the deal struck between GLEN and old ZIOC , elements of the consideration for the Acquisition. Rights can be waived, if the situation so requires.

New ZIOC probably didn't know in November - and may not know now - whether it'll end up being bought outright or left as a minority stakeholder or some other permutation we haven't thought of : the Gulfies are non-operating; the Chinese are product buyers; Vale and the Aussies are themselves producers. They have varying degrees of capabilities, interests and limitations.

GLEN will want to do what's best for GLEN, I'm sure it wants the marketing rights, but not if the price of a deal makes the concomitant purchase obligation too risky, eg 'take or pay' instead of 'take and pay'.

It could use the 'marketing right' as a bargaining chip, to be waived (in Vale's case), in exchange for a higher price for outright sale. Which would, incidentally, keep faith with exCEO and major shareholder Ivan Glasenberg's aversion to greenfield exposure...

And, speaking of potentially onerous purchase obligations, here's Vale in 2021 paying USD 2.5 bn to extricate itself from its coal-related obligations in Nacala's $2.7 bn project financing signed 4 years earlier...

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/vale-liabilities-nacala-corridor-mozambique/

ZIOC will have to update us all by 30th June, anyway. But before that, GLEN's six-month standstill undertaking ends on 16th May.....;->

Ho hum

Sebastian (on twitter) is the man to follow IMO..... 5 hours ago :

Sebastian Maril

@SebastianMaril 5h

.."In June (barring some unforeseen event), the trial to establish how much Arg will have to pay to the beneficiaries of the YPF expropriation judgment will begin.

- In the meantime, we await Judge Preska's decision on Arg's request to reconsider her ruling...".

HTH

If you go to the 3rd April RNS, BUR helpfully sets out what it sees as the roadmap.

The relevant bit appears to be this :

.."There is also a process for seeking reconsideration from the District Court of its own ruling, although such motions rarely prevail as they are being made to the same judge who decided the matter originally..."

This is what Argentina has done. We're waiting to hear from Preska.

.."Once the Court issues its final judgment, THAT JUDGMENT WILL BE APPEALABLE as of right to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and based on past practice it would be surprising if Argentina did not appeal. After seeing Argentina's appeal, Plaintiffs would decide whether to cross-appeal the dismissal of YPF..."

This is yet to happen.

.."The Second Circuit presently is taking around a year to resolve appeals once filed, although there is meaningful deviation from that mean. The District Court's judgment would be enforceable while the appeal is pending UNLESS

ARGENTINA POSTS A BOND to secure its performance, WHICH WE CONSIDER UNLIKELY or unless a court grants a relatively unusual stay..."

The fat lady is still gargling, AFAICS.

I am not a lawyer, NAI, DYOR etc etc

HTH