Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
UK manufacturer Sheffield Forgemasters has been offered a government loan of up to £36 million ($57 million) “to continue its drive into civil nuclear and steelworks plant production.” The money will be fully repaid in time, but should help the company to “service the global civil nuclear renaissance and global nuclear refurbishment programs,” it said. In June 2010 Sheffield Forgemasters lost on out a planned loan of £80 million ($127 million) due to cuts the current government made immediately on taking power. That money would have been put towards a 15,000 tonne press capable of making the largest nuclear forgings out of steel ingots weighing some 600 tonnes. The final amount of the new loan scheme is yet to be defined, as is the expansion it would go towards, but company CEO Graham Honeyman said it would be “used for new plant and equipment enhancements for the forge and machine shops to expand the business.”
