BHP Billiton’s chief executive Marius Kloppers says most miners will face lower cash flows and chairman Jac Nasser says the miner will not invest $80 billion on growth projects over the next five years as announced last year.
In other news making the headlines, Coalworks advises shareholders to reject Whitehaven Coal’s $142 million offer, Paladin Energy inks a deal with striking workers in Malawi and Monadelphous Group wins about $150 million worth of contracts.
BHP will not invest $80bnBHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) chief executive Marius Kloppers says most miners will face lower cash flows because of higher costs, lower commodity prices and slower growth. He also says he sees the iron ore export business slowing. Meanwhile chairman Jac Nasser says the miner will not invest $80 billion on growth projects over the next five years as announced last year. Mr Nasser cited the euro crisis, a slowing in China, as well as “political gridlock” in the US as the reasons behind not investing in the pipeline projects.
Boart Longyear brushes BHP comments asideBoart Longyear Limited’s
(ASX:BLY) chief has brushed aside comments from BHP Billiton Limited’s
(ASX:BHP) chairman and CEO, warning the global miner will be scaling back some of its investments. The drilling company’s chief executive Craig Kipp says he hasn’t noted changes in the amount of global mining plans or projects. Mr Kipp says executives need to learn how to live in this variable world because it's not going to change and Europe is going to be an issue for a while.
Coalworks rejects WhitehavenCoalworks Limited
(ASX:CWK) has advised shareholders to reject Whitehaven Coal’s Limited
(ASX:WHC) $142 million offer, on the grounds it is inadequate and opportunistic. Whitehaven is a 17.3 per cent shareholder in Coalworks and has attempted to remove Coalworks’ independent chairman and CEO. Coalworks says the offer does not reflect its growth potential and believes it is moving closer to delivering on its strategy of building an independent Australian coal producer.
Paladin inks deal with striking workers Paladin Energy Limited
(ASX:PDN) has welcomed the return to full production after inking a deal with striking workers in Malawi. The uranium miner says its Kayelekera mine has resumed 100 per cent operational status. The company has agreed to review salaries within six months to assess the devaluation of the local currency.
Monadelphous wins BHP & RIO contracts Monadelphous Group Limited
(ASX:MND) has won around $150 million worth of contracts for work in the oil and gas and iron ore sectors in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The engineering group will work on BHP Billiton Limited’s
(ASX:BHP) petroleum business for structural, mechanical and piping installation works associated with the construction of an onshore gas plant. Monadelphous will also work on Rio Tinto Limited’s
(ASX:RIO) iron ore expansion through the design and construction of a gas transmission pipeline, for the supply of gas to a new power station near Newman. Work on both contracts is expected to be completed next year.
Commodities outlookSpeaking with the Finance News Network at the RIU Sydney Resources Round-Up, CRU Group consultant and author Professor Allan Trench says the outlook for commodities is complex.
“What we’ve just presented is a summary of 23 different minerals markets, and some of those will go up and down between now and 2015. So the important thing is to be aware that metals do go up and down on a year-by-year basis. This year, 2012, as a basket of metals, we’re predicting a 5-10 per cent increase in prices. And, that increases to about 15 per cent-plus by 2015. But, there are fluctuations within those numbers,” said Mr Trench.
Mr Trench says base metals are likely to be the best performers.
“So, that’s things like tin, which may not be on everyone’s radar. Zinc, again, sometimes unloved but shouldn’t be. And, then you’re into the normal main market, things like copper for example, and nickel, quite good too even though nickel has been weak a little bit recently, we’re expecting that to pick up again.”
Watch the full interview at:
http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au/archives/finance_news_network20608.html
