China won’t come to the rescue in global iron ore supply crisis

China's first precious metals spot exchange began trading Tuesday in Chengzhou in Hunan Province. The Hunan South Rare Precious Metals Exchange is based in China's silver capital in Yongxing County. Its first four products to be listed are silver, bismuth, indium and tellurium.

Moly Mines Limited (TSX:MOL)(ASX:MOL) said today it has signed various project debt agreements with China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) totaling US$494 million for the construction of the Spinifex Ridge Molybdenum / Copper mine (Spinifex Ridge), Australia. Image by Moly Mines Limited

China’s massive appetite for commodities is creating concerns for the global economy, the environment and workers in other countries. In a series of reports, VOA is looking at the economic power modern China wields. Chinese government and company officials are signing agreements at a dizzying pace around the world, including in places where few other foreigners invest.

Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd said it plans a $280 million U.S. dollar-denominated bond issue, raising capital to acquire copper concentrate overseas for a smelter project of its unit. In a filing to the Hong Kong bourse on Tuesday, Zijin Mining said the bonds would have maturity of five years and a fixed interest rate of 4.25 percent per year during its term with interest payable semi-annually.

Iron, zinc and coal miner China Natural Resources shed 20% of its value on the Nasdaq stock exchange in morning trade on Monday in the absence of any fresh news about its operations while China Shen Zou Mining lost over 8%, the worst performers in the sector. Investors are continuing to worry about the soundness of Chinese companies that came to the US market through so-called reverse listings with the value of the 98 companies declining sharply in recent weeks as creative accounting and other irregularities are uncovered at firms engaging in operations as diverse as software and timber.

China's top economic planner on Thursday reiterated a ban on favourable power tariffs for power-intensive sectors as the world's second-largest electricity consumer struggles to deal with its worst power crisis in seven years. Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) asked local governments and power suppliers to cancel favourable power prices for aluminium, ferroalloy and calcium carbide makers, and said preferential power rates for direct trade between power generators and power users but without approval must be halted.

Australian coking coal producer Caledon Resources said it agreed to be bought by a Chinese investment group for 313.1 million pounds ($507 million), in a long-awaited deal which has finally met Chinese regulatory approval. China's Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co (GRAM) first approached Queensland-focused Caledon with a 112 pence per share offer in November to which Caledon agreed in principle, subject to approval from the Chinese regulators.

China's global share of rare earth output will drop steeply in the next two years as other countries ramp up production to compensate for domestic curbs on mining the minerals, a former government official and future rare earth group chief said. The country's rare earth output would drop from 95 percent of global output to 60 percent, reversing global reliance on China, Wang Caifeng, a former Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official told the official China Daily.

Ivanhoe Mines' Chief Executive Officer Robert Friedland announced today that the company expects to receive US$502 million from Rio Tinto later today following Rio Tinto's decision to exercise all remaining share-purchase warrants that it holds in Ivanhoe Mines.