Teck chooses Sumitomo to develop Chilean copper project in $1.2B deal www.mining.com

Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A | TECK.B)(NYSE:TCK), Canada’s largest diversified miner, has chosen Japan’s Sumitomo as partner to go ahead with a planned $4.8 billion expansion of the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in northern Chile.

Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation will pay $1.2 billion to Teck for a 30% stake in the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project — $800 million earn-in contribution and $400 million matching contribution.

The sum will help the Vancouver-based company go ahead with the expansion of the mine, now approved by the board, with construction to start as soon as the deal is closed and production expected to begin in the second half of 2021.

A potential third expansion will make the Quebrada Blanca mine Chile’s second largest copper operation, after Escondida, and one of the world’s top five copper mines.
“This partnership significantly de-risks Teck’s investment in the project, enhances our project economics and preserves our ability to continue to return capital to shareholders and reduce bonds currently outstanding,” Teck’s Chief Executive Don Lindsay said in the statement.

In August, the miner received regulatory approval for the mine extension, but the board didn’t ok the project until today.

Sumitomo reportedly had competed with Mitsubishi, Freeport-McMoRan, Lundin Mining, Rio Tinto and others looking to boost their copper assets.

Teck sees the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 as its most significant growth opportunity, with the potential to double its copper business. It is expected to extend the ageing deposit’s life by 28 years and substantially boost production to 300,000 tonnes of copper a year from 23,400 tonnes in 2017.

The Canadian mining giant is already studying a Phase 3 for the mine, which will double its capacity to 600,000 tonnes of copper a year. The potential extension will make the mine Chile’s second largest copper operation, after Escondida, and situate it among the world’s top five copper mines.

In terms of costs, Phase 3 would need a $5 billion-investment, as it would have to include the installation of a new concentrator.

Copper rush
Copper, one of four business units at Teck besides steelmaking, coal, oil and zinc, is considered a company priority.

The Canadian miner is not alone on the quest for copper assets, a metal the industry sees as having one of the strongest outlooks. There are expectations that the electric-vehicle boom and demand for renewable energy will increase need for the metal.

The expected deficit will partly be a consequence of increasing demand for power generation and electric vehicles (there’s 300kg of copper in an electric bus and nine tonnes per windfarm megawatt).

But it’s also related to the fact that the current copper pipeline is at the lowest this century, both in terms of number and capacity.

“After delivery of Cobre Panama (with the main ramp early next year) we are left with a gap until we see the next batch of 200ktpa-plus projects in 2022-23,” Colin Hamilton, director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said in April. “This is when the likes of Kamoa, Oyu Tolgoi Phase 2, and QB2 are likely to offer meaningful supply growth.”

Once the deal with Sumitomo is completed, Teck will own 60% of the Quebrada Blanca project and Chile’s national mining company ENAMI will hold the remaining 10%.

Mongolia introduces community-based sustainable tourism www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, ‘Airbnb’ and ‘what3words’ announced launching of a joint project to create a favorable condition for tourism in Mongolia. A memorandum of cooperation between the parties was signed in May, 2018.

No nukes here! Mongolia stands up for world peace and sanity www.news.mn

In the world today, Mongolia is the only country with internationally recognised nuclear-weapon-free status.

Is Mongolia’s current political instability systemic or a governance issue? www.globaltimes.cn

Mongolia has again been caught up in political instability a year after a new government took over from the one ruling since 2016. According to the Xinhua News Agency, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Friday survived a no-confidence vote initiated by 27 lawmakers of the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) on November 19 over a financial scandal involving some members of parliament and government. These high-ranking officials are said to have obtained loans with low interest rates from a fund that serves small and medium-size enterprises.

Such internal battles in Mongolian politics are not new but are symptomatic of societal illness for almost 30 years since its democratic transition. Once again, there is widespread discussion on the root cause of this stubborn illness.

Generally, there are two different opinions: one says that Mongolia should carry out systematic constitutional reform. This group is again split into two - one party supports the traditional parliamentary system. The other advocates a presidential form of government. The second opinion says that Mongolia needs a "cosmetic change" on the institutional level rather than a systematic one, a change that clarifies both rights and responsibilities and strengthens supervision.

Yet, no precise diagnosis is given either by internal or outside experts on whether the trouble Mongolia has sunk into is a systematic one or has been precipitated by governance problems, hence, the power struggle drama continues in Mongolian politics.

The problem is characterized by the tension between the "top three," - the parliament, the prime minister and the president, manifesting itself as a power struggle and conflict of interests. Mongolia is characterized as a semi-presidential and semi-parliamentary state, but in comparison, the parliament is more powerful than the president. So, it is also called a parliamentary state with president. The parliament represents the highest authority of the state.

Still, Mongolian polity is different from a classic parliamentary democracy since the president enjoys certain overriding powers such that his decisions can have an impact on any institution at the highest level of the polity. For example, the right to veto the laws and resolutions passed by the parliament, set guidelines for the government and issue decrees, to select the candidate for the prime minister by negotiating with the majority in the parliament etc.

The president also has an equal right with the parliament to nominate three members of the Constitutional Court (nine members). Most importantly, the president has the right to appoint the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General of the Supreme Procuratorate, which indeed violates the principle of judicial independence.

In addition, the prime minister is a member of parliament and so are members of the government. Integration of legislative and executive power makes things even worse. Corruption, interest-groups and factional divisions in politics are becoming more serious. Currently, the MPP in the parliament is divided into two factions. One is with the current Parliament Speaker Miyeegombyn Enkhbold and the other supports the current prime minister. Now, the parliament is deadlocked because 32 members requested the removal of the speaker.

A series of recent political scandals and incidents have further exacerbated public distrust and dissatisfaction with the two major political parties. Mongolia is not only caught in economic and political mire, but also faces a serious mistrust in authorities and the major political parties. Disappointment among the people is high. Political instability has been a chronic disease of Mongolia, which inevitably has had a negative impact on the economy. In the last 27 years, Mongolia has seen 14 governments, which means that the average life expectancy of each government is less than two years.

The next development in the political situation remains to be seen. Mongolia is an important neighbor of China to the north and an essential party to China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor's construction. Mongolian economy has just shown signs of recovery. Political stability in Mongolia is not only beneficial to the country and its people but also conductive to the promotion of regional stability and sub-regional cooperation.

By B.Shurentana
The author is a lecturer at the Center for Mongolian Studies, Inner Mongolia University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

Mongolia's central bank purchases 18.9 tons of gold in first 11 months this year www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Mongolia, the central bank, has purchased 18.9 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in the first 11 months of this year, the same as last year's figure during the same period, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.

Trump: US, China, Russia to discuss arms race halt www.nhk.or.jp

US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to start disarmament talks in the future with his Chinese and Russian counterparts.

5G smartphones are coming in 2019. What does that mean? www.cnn.com

New York (CNN Business)5G is already here, but you can't do much to access those super-fast speeds unless you live in a specific place with a particular piece of technology. That's about to change.

Samsung and Verizon (VZ) jointly announced Monday the companies would sell a 5G smartphone in the first half of 2019. Although they didn't say which phone would support 5G, Samsung usually announces its latest Galaxy S smartphone in the spring.
The mystery phone may not be the first 5G smartphone to hit the market. Unsure of other companies' plans, Verizon and Samsung hedged by saying it would be "one of the first." But Samsung is by far the largest smartphone maker in the world, and its decision to launch a 5G smartphone means the rest of the market won't lag far behind. If smartphone companies want to stay competitive in the coming years, 5G will soon be a must-have.
That still doesn't solve the problem of network availability. Verizon's 5G network currently exists in only a small handful of cities. AT&T (T) also has 5G networks up and running in just seven cities. Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS) lag behind. Verizon and AT&T lack specific rollout plans or time frames, but they plan to bring many more cities online in 2019 and 2020. (CNN is owned by AT&T.)
Although 5G may not be much of a selling point now, it will be once it's pervasive enough. 5G promises much faster speeds than 4G. How much faster is up for debate (Verizon says "many times faster"), but lab tests have yielded speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G. When millions of people are on the network, though, that tends to slow speeds down a bit. Industry estimates put 5G at around 10 times faster than 4G in real-life scenarios.
That's where 5G's ultra-low latency technology really comes in handy. Today's networks take a split second to send and receive communications between your smartphone and the network. A split second isn't much, but your phone could make dozens of request each time you tap on your screen. 5G gets that network communication time down to virtually zero.
5G is exciting technology for smartphone owners, but it's potentially much more important for broadband customers and businesses.
Verizon already sells 5G home internet service as a replacement for wired internet connections for homes — it even comes with free YouTube TV as a throw-in. 5G potentially allows companies like Verizon and AT&T to become broadband competitors in every city — something they were unable to do with FiOS and U-Verse.
5G's low latency can allow self-driving cars to process all the information they need to make life-or-death decisions in the blink of an eye. And the health care industry believes 5G could help power the next generation of telemedicine and robotic surgeries.
Before all of that can happen, however, wireless companies have tens of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure to upgrade.
That's a big commitment, but they've made good on their promises before. For example, Verizon also offered the world's first 4G smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, which debuted in March 2011. It similarly could only be used in certain areas as Verizon built out its 4G network, and the world collectively rolled its eyes. Yet other smartphone manufacturers quickly followed suit, and 4G modems became standard equipment on smartphones by the end of 2011.

Roles of science and technology highlighted to achieve sustainable development goals www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ The International Atomic Energy Agency /IAEA/ organized a Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology: Addressing Current and Emerging Development Challenges in Vienna, Austria on November 28-30.

First shipment leaves Rio Tinto’s Amrun bauxite mine in Australia www.riotinto.com

Rio Tinto's Amrun project in Queensland, Australia, has achieved a significant milestone, successfully making the first shipment of bauxite, six weeks ahead of schedule.

Ulaanbaatar joins EBRD Green Cities www.ebrd.com

Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is addressing pressing ecological and infrastructure challenges with a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) developed with support from the EBRD. The city with a population of 1.4 million will become the first municipality in Asia to join the Bank’s Green Cities programme.