malaysian minerals bulletin may-june 2011

8/4/2019 Malaysian Minerals Bulletin May-June 2011

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By-Monthly Report of theMALAYSIAN CHAMBER OF

For Members OnlyMay June 2011

MALAYSIANMALAYSIAN

MINERALS & METALSMINERALS & METALSBULLETINBULLETIN

Gold Market ReviewGold Market Review

Gold News HighlightsGold News Highlights

The Gold Rush is On Central Banks Add US$6b Gold to Re-

serves Hindus Rush for Gold During Auspicious

Akshaya Tritiya Higher Gold Items Exports Value Seen Nobles Pot of Gold in Ghana Canadian Gold Miner to Acquire Mengapur

Project Newmont: Gold to Top US$1,600 in 2012

Aluminium News HighlightAluminium News Highlight

Press Metal Offers Sumitomo Stake in Sec-ond Smelter

Steel News HighlightsSteel News Highlights

India Gives Nod for US$12b Steel Plant Ann Joo Plans Expansion China Firm in Talks to Buy Amsteel Stake Baosteel Will Add Roar to Lion Strong Objections to Additional Import Duty

on HRC

Iron Ore News HighlightsIron Ore News Highlights

7 Shortlisted for Vale Mega Project

Vale Turns Focus to Malaysia Gadang Set to Win RM200m Vale Deal

Coal News HighlightCoal News Highlight

MMC Unit to Build Coal-fired Power Plant

Rare Earth News HighlightsRare Earth News Highlights

Rare Earth Prices Surge As Demand Out-strips Supplies

Rare Earth Radiation Level Lower Than

Bitumen, Says Adnan Lynas: Its Safe to Transport Rare Earths Chinas Rare Earth Exchange Lynas Under The Spotlight Lynas Panels Meetings, Site Visits Go

Smoothly No Bypassing Safety Standards Strict Safety Checks Done Business and Job Spin-offs Await

Other Minerals/Metals News High-Other Minerals/Metals News High-lightslights

BHP Sees Fragile Global Economy Indias Reliance to Invest in Indonesia LME, SGX to Start Lead, Steel Futures

Trade in Q3 Tariff Hike to Hit Millers

StatisticsStatistics

INSIDE THIS IS-INSIDE THIS IS-


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MARKET REVIEWMARKET REVIEW

MAY

Gold opened trading in the month of Mayon the London Bullion Market atUS$1,540.25 per oz, slightly higher thanthe previous months closing price ofUS$1,535.50 per oz. The gold price theninched-up slightly to record the highestprice level for the month at US$1,541.00per oz on 4 May. Gold was traded withinthe US$1,478.50 per oz to US$1,541.00per oz price range during the month. Theaverage gold price for May was

US$1,511.34 per oz.

The gold market in May was again verymuch influenced by the value of the USdollar. During the first trading week of themonth, the price of the precious metalsoftened as the greenback strengthenedagainst other major currencies. It thenrebounded during the first day of the sec-ond trading week but slid thereafter to-wards middle of the third trading week on

weak demand, hitting its lowest level forthe month at US$1,478.50 per oz on 17May.

Thereafter, the gold price rose all the way

towards end of the trading month inter-spersed with some technical correction.Gold closed the trading month atUS$1,536.50 per oz, slightly lower thanthe months opening price.

JUNE

Gold trading in June started atUS$1,533.75 per oz. The metal wastraded within a price range ofUS$1,498.00 per oz to US$1,552.50 peroz during the month. The average pricefor the month was US$1,528.66 per oz.

During the first trading week of June, thegold price strengthened slightly as thegreenback weakened. However, tradingduring the second week softened andcontinued to decline until the second dayof the third trading week on weak demandbefore rebounding towards middle of thefourth trading week to record the highestprice level for the month at US$1,552.50per oz on 22 June.

The bullish sentiment did not sustain for

long as the gold price slid substantiallytowards middle of the final trading week.It was during this period that it recordedits lowest price level for the month atUS$1498.00 per oz on 27 June. Thereaf-

London After-noon

NY Comex

MAY

Low 1478.50 1479.80

High 1541.00 1556.70

Average 1511.34 1512.80

JUNE

Low 1498.00 1477.70

High 1552.50 1552.90

Average 1528.66 1526.30

Table 1: GOLD MARKET OVERVIEW(US$/OZ)


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MAY&

JUNE2011GOLD

PRICES

MAY&

JUNE2011GOLD

PRICES


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Gold News HighlightsGold News Highlights

The Gold Rush is OnThe Gold Rush is On

Despite the gold price hitting an all-time high

last weekend, people continue to flock gold-smith shops to buy the glittering metal. Acheck by StarMetro saw most goldsmithshops along Jalan Masjid India filled with pa-trons. The gold business has always beenstable. Even with gold selling at RM146 pergram in my shop today, we still continue toenjoy brisk business, said a salesperson Jai-sankar Palsamy. In fact, we do more saleswhen the price is increasing because peoplefear it will go even higher. When the pricestarts to drop, people wait and hope for it togo even lower, he said.

Federation of Goldsmiths and Jewellers As-sociation of Malaysia president Ng Yih Pyngsaid the price increase has created a demandfor gold. In fact, we see an increase in de-mand for diamonds too, which is also follow-ing the same upward trend. People will con-tinue buying gold regardless of the price,which draws them to make the purchasesnow before it goes even higher, he said,

adding gold wafers and bars were in greatdemand by investors now. Malaysian IndianGoldsmith Association adviser A.R. Ramansaid gold was so desirable not only for itsbeauty but also because it was one of themost stable forms of investment. People be-lieve in saving in the form of gold, which iswise because those who bought gold when itwas sold for about RM40 per gram can makea lot of money now. People nowadays arealso reluctant to sell or trade in their old goldfor new but are buying more to add on to their

collection, he said, adding that people werestarting to see the potential value of gold intimes to come. Gold is a symbol of prosper-ity among the Indian community and is con-sidered auspicious because it is related to theGoddess of Wealth Mahalakshmi, said Ra-man.

Bride-to-be Vasugi Supramanian, 28, whowas buying gold ornaments for her weddingsaid: Seeing the rapid increase in gold price,I have decided to buy all the necessary gold

items in advance although I will only be get-ting married in December. Looking at the

price trend, its scary to think of how muchone has to pay for gold in future, saidVasugi. The Indian Muslim community is alsovery fond of gold. Hameedah Begum IbrahimShah, 60, said yellow gold was very appeal-

ing to the community because it was a statussymbol whereby the more gold a person had,the more dignified he or she was in the soci-ety. The more gold they put on, the higherthey are in the social class. Although thedowry system has taken a twist in Malaysia,many still buy gold ornaments to adorn theirdaughters for the wedding before being sentoff. Some are family heirlooms. We also givegold ornaments to our daughters-in-law toshow that we are able to provide and a suretyfor their parents to know that their daughters

are in safe hands, she said. There is also alot of talk among the Indian communityabout Akshya Tritiya which is tomorrow. It isbelieved that anyone purchasing gold on thisday will continue to do so in future.

Author and Sunday Star Vasthu Sastra col-umnist T. Selva said May 6 was one of themost auspicious dates in the Vedic calendarto purchase gold. Astrologically, this periodgives out creativity and positive vibrations re-lated to improving wealth. Akshaya in San-

skrit means one that never diminishes. Ac-cording to the legend, any venture initiated onthis day shall continue to grow and bringprosperity and this is why people rush to pur-chase at least a small gold item so that theyare replenished endlessly, he said. Manygoldsmith shops are expected to operate ex-tra hours on this day from as early as 7.30amto 10.30pm.

Selva also said that besides purchasing gold,people could also use this favourable date topurchase other valuables like a house, car,start a new journey, have the first meeting ofthe bride and groom or undertaking new ven-tures. The day is also recognised for gooddeeds and this is why people also make do-nations on this day in the hope of earningmerit for life. People are also urged to getblessings from parents or guardians, he said.

(Source: The Star, 5 May 2011)

Central Banks Add US$6b Gold to Re-Central Banks Add US$6b Gold to Re-


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servesserves

Mexico, Russia and Thailand added gold nowvalued at about US$6 billion (US$1 =RM2.99) to their reserves in February and

March as prices advanced to a record, thedollar weakened and treasuries lost investorsmoney. Mexico bought 93.3 tonnes sinceJanuary, increasing holdings from about 6.9tonnes, according to data from the Interna-tional Monetary Fund, and the nation's centralbank later said it purchased 100 tonnes inrecent months. Russia increased reserves18.8 tonnes to 811.1 tonnes in March andThailand expanded assets 9.3 tonnes to108.9 tonnes in the same month, the datashow.

Central banks are expanding their gold re-serves for the first time in a generation aspurchases by billionaire investors includingJohn Paulson contributed to bullion extendingits longest winning streak since at least 1920.Countries were also boosting their holdings in1980 when gold rose to a then-recordUS$850 an ounce, only to fall for most of thenext 20 years. "Central banks have goodreason to buy gold," said Peter Morici, a pro-fessor of business at the University of Mary-

land in College Park and a former economicadviser to the US government. "The dollar isno longer a safe asset for backing currencies.Treasuries are not a sound investment andbudget and debt issues mean central banksshould buy gold," he said.

Gold for immediate delivery climbed to a re-cord US$1,577.57 an ounce on May 2, andtraded little changed at US$1,516.75 at9.03am in Singapore. The price is up 6.8 percent this year and has gained the past 10years. Global holdings of gold by govern-ments and official institutions such as the IMFstood at 30,523 tonnes by April, according tothe World Gold Council. Mexico's purchaseof 100 tonnes formed part of the centralbank's ordinary investment activities, and thegold represents about 4 per cent of the na-tion's international reserves, Banco de Mex-ico said in statement late Wednesday."These purchases are part of the regular pol-icy of this institution in regards to investment

and diversification," the statement said. Mex-ico's international reserves have risen 11 per

cent this year to US$125.8 billion, centralbank data show.

(Source: New Straits Times, 6 May 2011)

Hindus Rush for Gold During AuspiciousHindus Rush for Gold During AuspiciousAkshaya TritiyaAkshaya Tritiya

Indians in the country, particularly Hindus,may have few auspicious days to celebratefestive periods, but yesterday was one of akind it was to buy gold ornaments. It is abelief among Hindus that buying goldonAkshaya Tritiya, one of the four most aus-picious days of the Vedic calendar, wouldbring everlasting prosperity and success. Ac-

cording to the Tritiya legend, which originatesfrom the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the San-skrit word Akshaya means one that never di-minishes. Akshaya Tritiya falls on the thirdlunar day of the Chitiraimonth in the Hinducalendar, which is between April 14 and May14 every year. Gold represents everlastingwealth as it can be passed down in familiesthrough generations, Kuala Lumpur Sri Ma-hamariamman Temple Devasthanam chiefpriest Sivakumar Battar said.

A check by The Star in Tengku Kelana hereshowed that the jewellery shops were enjoy-ing brisk business. Shop owner N.P. Ramansaid business had been good for the pastthree days and the momentum was expectedto continue over the next two or three days.My shop has been packed for three daysnow, he said, adding that the price of goldhad dropped. He said the price of gold wasat RM200 per gram last week but haddropped to RM142 yesterday. This could beanother reason behind the sudden increasein customers buying gold, he added.

According to housewife, V. Lakshmi Bai,58,Akshaya Tritiya was a good time to bringhome the image of the goddess of wealthLakshmi in any form gold, silver, platinum,diamond or precious stones. If we buy gold,it will bring us good luck and more money intimes ahead. Therefore, I bought some goldfor my daughter and granddaughter, shesaid. However, the mother of two, said it was

the first time she had bought gold on the aus-picious day.


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Higher Gold Items Exports Value SeenHigher Gold Items Exports Value Seen

The value of gold jewellery products exportedfrom Malaysia this year is expected to in-crease by about 10% from approximatelyRM3.8bil last year to about RM4.25bil.Penang Goldsmith Association (PGA) Chair-man Joeson Khor said the figures last yeardid not achieve the target set which was overRM5bil due to the turmoil in the Middle Eastand the high price of gold, which was around

US$1,400 per ounce last October. This yearthere would be an increase in the value ofgold jewellery products exported from Malay-sia due to the growing interest in commodityinvestment worldwide and in the Middle East.The rising price of gold would also increasethe value of gold jewellery products ex-ported, he told StarBiz. Presently, the priceof gold per ounce is US$1,495.

Gold prices hit about US$1,580 per ouncelast week but dropped to US$1,547 this week

after Osama's death was announced. Theslight drop could be due to the fact that therewould be more stability in the supply of com-modities following Osama's death and specu-lators selling off gold to make profits, hesaid. According to the latest Malaysia Exter-nal Trade Development Corp (MATRADE)report, the export value of gold jewelleryproducts for the first two months of 2011 wasRM627mil, compared with RM565.6milachieved in the previous corresponding pe-riod. Khor said the value of gold jewelleryproducts imported during the first two monthsof 2011 was around RM22.4mil, comparedwith RM14mil achieved in the same periodlast year.

For 2010, the value of imported gold jewelleryproducts was RM152mil, compared withRM109mil in 2009. The removal of importduties on gold jewellery products last Aprilhad to do with the rise in the importation ofgold jewellery products. The increase has re-

sulted in more competition in the gold jewel-lery trade and loss in market share of local

gold jewellery manufacturers, Khor said.Starting May 1, 2011, the labour charge forgold jewellery products has risen by 30% to50% due to inflation. After the increase, thelabour charge for a RM1,000 gold jewellery

item is between RM130 and RM150, com-pared with M100 previously. This means theselling price of the gold item will be RM1,130to RM1,150 after including labour charges,he said. This was decided at a meeting bythe PGA last month, he said, adding that thedecision made in Penang had affected thepricing nationwide as 90% of the gold jewel-lery manufacturers come from Penang.


Nobles Pot of Gold in GhanaNobles Pot of Gold in Ghana

Australia-listed Noble Mineral Resources Ltdexpects a US$150 million (RM450 million)boost to its bottom line within a year of miningat the Bibiani Gold Mine in Ghana. Noble willstart gold production at this site, with an esti-mated 1.98 million ounces of gold deposit, inAugust. Ghana is said to be second largestgold producer in the African continent and the10th largest gold producing nation in the

world. Chairman Tunku Naquiyuddin TuankuJa'afar said the projection was based on cur-rent gold prices which are hovering just belowUS$1,500 an ounce. Gold for current deliveryclosed at US$1,493.40 an ounce on Fridayon the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"We expect to mine 150,000 oz within a year,beginning August. With gold price at aroundUS$1,500 an ounce and an estimated pro-duction cost of US$500 (RM1,550), we areexpecting US$150 million a year to our bot-tom line," Tunku Naquiyuddin said. He addedthat production costs could in fact be lowerthan the US$500 per ounce. "For the finan-cial year ending December 31, we could havefive months worth of production," he toldBusiness Times in an interview. This trans-lates into roughly US$62.5 million (RM187.5million) profit by end of this year.

Tunku Naquiyuddin's involvement in Noble isvia Global Gold Holdings Ltd, which is also

listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.Global Gold, meanwhile, is the largest corpo-


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rate shareholder of Noble holding some 18per cent stake. Prior to a recent private place-ment by Noble, Global Gold held a 27 percent stake in Noble. According to TunkuNaquiyuddin, Noble took possession of the

site in July 2010. The mine, which covers 100sq km, was put up for auction via tender byInvestec Bank, South Africa. The bank hadtaken ownership of Central African GoldGhana after the miner failed to repay debt.

Noble then won the bid as it offered to repaythe obligations of the CAGG. Noble will payUS$32 million (RM96 million) and offer 2 mil-lion shares of AU$0.20 each in Noble to thebank. "We have a deal where we can payback the bank without impacting the cash

flow of the company and we have a two yearmoratorium on our repayment to the bank,"he said. Interestingly, the mine has in place a2.7 million tonne a year treatment facility, builtby the previous owner, which means Nobledoes not have to invest too much for the facil-ity. "We are refurbishing the mill, bringing thedrilling rigs, preparing accommodation andrecruiting staff," he said, adding that the minehas 516 staff in place. Tunku Naquiyuddinsaid that he had invited Malaysians to investin Noble when the shares were around

A$0.29 but at that time no one was inter-ested. The shares of Noble closed at A$0.63on Friday. Other sites in Ghana which thecompany is exploring are Cape Three Pointsand Tumentu which cover some 88 km sqand are located within the world-class AshantiGold belt in southeastern Ghana.


Canadian Gold Miner to Acquire MengapurCanadian Gold Miner to Acquire MengapurProjectProject

Monument Mining Ltd, a Canadian gold min-ing company plans to acquire the MengapurPolymetalic project in Pahang, previouslyowned by Malaysian Mining Corp (MMC) forUS$50 million (RM151 million). The com-pany, through its wholly-owned subsidiary,Monument Mengapur Sdn Bhd, formerlyOrifer Asia Sdn Bhd, has entered into a bind-ing memorandum of understanding with Ma-

laco Mining Sdn Bhd, and the latter's wholly-owned subsidiary Cermat Aman Sdn Bhd, to

acquire the project.

In a statement, the company said the acquisi-tion remains subject to due diligence, updat-ing of historical resource and reserve esti-

mates, signing of a definitive sale and pur-chase agreement, financing, board and regu-latory approvals and other conditions. Uponcompletion of the acquisition, it said Monu-ment Mining would hold a 70 per cent pre-financing interest in the project, which is lo-cated at the central gold belt district in Penin-sular Malaysia. The Mengapur project is alsoexpected to provide jobs for over 500 peopleonce it is operating, Monument Mining said.

Its president and chief executive officer

Robert Baldock said if the company proceedswith the project, it would bring substantialbenefits to the Malaysian community as awhole through payment of government royal-ties and long-term employment for potentiallyover 500 people, plus a significant ongoingpurchase of goods, contract services andother community services requirements."Together with the upgrade to over 100,000tonnes per year treatment rate and increasinggold production presently being undertaken atour Selinsing gold mine, the company will

have a significant presence in Malaysia, pro-ducing precious and base metals as well asthe potential for sale of other by-products.This will diversify the company against fluctu-ating metal prices over the long term whilemaintaining an increasing gold productionprofile and create a more robust long-termfocused multi-listed producer," he said.

Monument Mining is a Canadian gold miningproduction and exploration company operat-ing in Malaysia at its two 100 per cent-ownedprincipal properties, namely Selinsing goldmine project and Damar Buffalo Reef pros-pect in Pahang.

(Source: New Straits Times, 13 June 2011)

Newmont: Gold to Top US$1,600 in 2012Newmont: Gold to Top US$1,600 in 2012

Newmont Mining Corp, the world's No. 2 goldproducer, sees prices for the precious metal

rising to US$1,600 (RM4,800) this year andabove that next year, on growing demand


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from Asia's burgeoning middle class. Chiefexecutive officer Richard O'Brien also saidyesterday that the planned initial public offer-ing (IPO) of the company's Indonesian unitmight be delayed to the middle of next year.

"Next year we could maybe get overUS$1,600 for a while," O'Brien told Reuters inan interview on the sidelines of a World Eco-nomic Forum Event in Jakarta yesterday."Longer term, it's still potential upside, de-pending on US dollar weakness, and a sus-tained building of the middle class in both In-dia and China," he added.

The world's top two gold users consumedabout 1,543 tonnes of gold jewellery, coinsand bars in 2010, according to the World

Gold Council. Spot gold traded atUS$1,530.59 an ounce on Monday, near arecord-high hit in early May of US$1,575.79.A Reuters poll of analysts in April showedprices reaching an average of US$1,700 anounce in 2015. However, O'Brien offeredsome caution on gold's bull run. "What couldinterrupt that, the US gets more serious aboutfiscal responsibility, which would probablyincrease interest rates and slow down theeconomy, slow down the dollar weaknessand then reduce gold," he said. "The other

thing that could impact is China - if inflationgets so ahead of itself, the government has toslow down the economy, same in India."China and India are also major consumers ofcopper.

O'Brien said that unless something happensto the economy of the two big consumers,copper will be in "a pretty good trading rangefor the next several years". "US$4.00-US$4.50 range (a pound) is a reasonableplace for us to be for the next two years," hesaid. A slowdown in Chinese lending in Maydrove London copper lower on Monday, dem-onstrating the efficacy of Beijing's monetarytightening and accompanying risks to de-mand. Three-month copper on the LondonMetal Exchange fell 0.2 per cent toUS$8,920.25 at a tonne by 0727 GMT. Ear-lier, copper dipped as low as US$8,889.25,its weakest since May 25. Chinese banksmade loans of 551.6 billion yuan in local cur-rency in May, missing market forecasts for

610 billion yuan, the People's Bank of Chinasaid. Newmont runs the Batu Hijau gold and

copper mine in Indonesia's West Nusa Teng-gara through its unit PT Newmont NusaTenggara.


Aluminium News HighlightAluminium News Highlight

Press Metal Offers Sumitomo Stake inPress Metal Offers Sumitomo Stake inSecond SmelterSecond Smelter

Press Metal Bhd (PMB) has offered Japan'sSumitomo Corp a stake in its second alumin-ium smelter in Samalaju, Sarawak, to helpfund the project. Other parties have ex-pressed interest in the second plant but PMBis giving Sumitomo the first option because itis already partnering the Japanese firm in itsfirst smelter. "We do not rule other parties (ininvesting) as well but the first priority is to ourcurrent shareholders who took first step in theMukah project," group chief executive officerDatuk Paul P.K. Koon told the media after the

company's annual general meeting here yes-terday.

Last September, Sumitomo took a 20 percent stake in PMB's subsidiary, Press MetalSarawak Sdn Bhd (PMS), which is building a120,000 tonnes per year plant in Mukah witha total investment of RM60.4 million. Underits second-phase expansion plan, PMS willdouble its capacity by end-2012. Sumitomoreportedly has an option to raise its stake inPMS to 25 per cent. Sumitomo has invest-

ments in aluminium smelters in Australia, Bra-zil and Indonesia and is a major trader of pri-mary aluminium metals in Japanese andother Asian markets. The two-year Samalajuproject would cost US$700 million (RM2.1billion) and PMB plans to borrow 70 per centof the total and fund the rest internally.

Yesterday, PMB's shareholders approved itsplan for a rights and warrants issue to raiseup to RM323.7 million to part-finance theSamalaju plant. Kong reckoned the plant

would start making positive contributions from2013 onwards. "We do expect healthy reve-


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nue and cash flow because it is a high capitalexpenditure investment. We need a strongcash flow to repay all our borrowings. We be-lieve both the revenue and cash to be signifi-cantly higher than now," he added.


Steel News HighlightsSteel News Highlights

India Gives Nod for US$12b Steel PlantIndia Gives Nod for US$12b Steel Plant

India yesterday gave final clearance to South

Korean giant Posco's proposed US$12 billion(US$1 = RM2.97) steel plant in a deal seenas a test of the country's openness to foreigninvestment. The plant - one of India's biggestforeign projects since the launch of marketreforms in 1991 - has faced fierce oppositionfrom locals in eastern Orissa state campaign-ing to save farmland and forests needed forthe project. The environment ministry, whichgave permission for the plant to be built inJanuary, had stipulated that the Orissa gov-ernment should investigate claims by locals

who could be forced off their land.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh saidOrissa authorities had dismissed the claimsand therefore "final approval is accorded tothe state government" to give 1,253ha of for-est to Posco. Posco should not export rawmaterials, including iron ore, from the pro-posed project, the minister said. "I would ex-pect that (agreement) between the state andPosco would be negotiated in such a mannerthat exports of the raw material are com-

pletely avoided," Ramesh said in a statementclearing land acquisition for the project. Asenior executive of Posco India told Reutersthat export of raw material from Orissa wasnever part of the agreement. Indian lawstipulates no forest land can be cleared with-out the approval of people who stake claim tothe land.

The Posco deal, originally announced in2005, had been keenly watched as a testcase for foreign investors eager to enter thefast-growing Asian economy, but wary of the

potential for enviromental concerns to derailtheir plans. Giant steelmaker ArcelorMittal,controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal,has also found itself unable to acquire landfor a proposed plant in eastern India.

Ramesh said the approval was conditional onPosco regenerating an equal area of forest inan area decided by Orissa as well as payingfor the land.

Ramesh, who has earned a reputation as agreen crusader for blocking investment pro-jects that threaten the environment, said yes-terday he believed 60 conditions imposed onPosco would "ensure the project will not bedetrimental from an ecological and local liveli-hoods point of view". Madhuresh Kumar, na-

tional organiser for the anti-Posco NationalAlliance of People's Movements, called thegovernment's decision "deeply unfortunate"."The government is neglecting its own com-mittee reports on the project and grantingclearance. The decision is completely illegaland unconstitutional," Kumar said. A govern-ment panel had earlier found "many seriouslapses and illegalities" in assessments of theplant's environmental impact and "seriousviolations" in the public hearing process.


Ann Joo Plans ExpansionAnn Joo Plans Expansion

Steel maker Ann Joo Resources Bhd is look-ing at expanding its operations across South-East Asia via joint ventures (JVs) or mergersand acquisitions (M&As) in greenfields andsmall regional steel millers, saidgroup managing director Datuk Lim HongThye. He said Indonesia, Vietnam and Thai-land would be ideal locations for the groupbut currently, we are still in the preliminarystage of scouting for potential JVs or M&As.Lim, who declined to reveal the capital expen-diture needed for the new undertakings, said:We will initially focus on acquiring smallersteel players with a capacity of 100,000 to300,000 tonnes rather than venturing intogreenfields.

Ann Joo is one of the country's top five steel

companies with a current production of800,000 tonnes of steel billets per year. Un-


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der the group's Vision 2020 programme, AnnJoo Resources would position itself to be aleading steel group in South-East Asia withproduction capacity hitting two million tonnesof billets per year, Lim told reporters after the

company's AGM yesterday. We want to ex-cel as the leading regional steel producer,operating the best blast furnace and electricarc furnace in South-East Asia, producing awide range of steel products at competitiveprices, he said. The group is also planningto produce engineering-grade steel productssometime next year. On the progress of thegroup's RM650mil blast furnace plant in Prai,Lim said: We expect the first phase will becompleted before the end of this year.

The blast furnace with a capacity of 504,000tonnes per annum for production of iron willenhance the group's production of higherquality steel products. In future, iron pro-duced from the blast furnace can be inte-grated with scraps in the group's existingelectric arc furnace to reduce production timeand increase the output of steel billets, aswell as lowering costs. We hope to ramp upthe output of steel billets to 1.1 million tonnesa year by the first quarter of 2012 from thecurrent 800,000 tonnes, he said. Ann Joo

Resources, which is currently a 95% con-struction-based steel producer, will be pro-ducing high quality engineering grade steelproducts by next year to reduce its currentrisk exposure in the construction steel mar-ket, according to Lim. The group will also belooking at increasing its export sales by 40%this year, particularly in Asean region, India,the Middle East and Australia. On steelprices, Lim said there could be a bull run bythird or fourth quarter this year with priceshitting RM2,500 per tonne. Currently, steelprices are hovering at between RM2,200 toRM2,300 per tonne.


China Firm in Talks to Buy Amsteel StakeChina Firm in Talks to Buy Amsteel Stake

Baosteel Group Corp, China's second-biggeststeelmaker, is in talks to buy a stake in asteel unit of Malaysia's Lion Group for about

US$1 billion (RM3.03 billion), said two peoplewith knowledge of the matter. The size of the

holding in Amsteel Mills Bhd to be sold hasyet to be determined, one of the people said,declining to be identified because the nego-tiations are private. Steel demand in China,the world's biggest consumer of the alloy,

may rise by as much as a quarter by 2015compared with last year, according to a Mayprojection from the China Iron & Steel Asso-ciation, which represents producers.

China has been encouraging state-ownedsteelmakers to invest in overseas resourcesto reduce their dependence on ValeSA, RioTinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd, the world'sthree biggest suppliers of iron ore. Meng Hai-biao, a media relations official at Baosteel,declined to comment. Lion Group chairman

William Cheng wasn't immediately availablewhen contacted at his office in Kuala Lumpuryesterday.


Baosteel Will Add Roar to LionBaosteel Will Add Roar to Lion

The Lion Group of Companies made aroaring impact last Thursday when its units,namely Lion Industries Corp Bhd, Lion Corp

Bhd and Lion Diversified Holdings Bhd, con-firmed that the group was in preliminary talkswith various parties regarding a potential stra-tegic collaboration. However, if the an-nouncements had excited the market, thiswas not truly reflected in the three companies'share prices. At 5pm yesterday, sharesofLion Industries closed up 2 sen to RM1.82,Lion Corp was unchanged at 28.5 sen whileLion Diversified slipped 0.5 sen 47.5 sen.The Lion Group announcement was madefollowing news reports that the group hadstarted meeting with steel players from vari-ous countries, including Baosteel Group,China's second largest steel-maker, whichwas said to be in talks (with the Lion Group)to buy a stake in Amsteel Mills Bhd for aboutUS$1bil (RM3bil).

Amsteel Mills, a wholly-owned unit of LionIndustries, owns two of Lion Industries' threeelectric arc furnace plants. Located in Klangand Banting, both Amsteel plants have a

combined steel-making capacity of 2.15 mil-lion tonnes annually. The Lion Group, neither


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admitting nor denying the news reports, toldBursa Malaysia last week: They (respectivecompanies) will make the appropriate disclo-sures in due course and at the appropriatetime. Analysts who cover the stock seem

upbeat about the possibility of a deal withBaosteel.

RHB Research in its report said it saw Baos-teel's potential entrance into Lion Industriesas highly positive. It, however, added thatthe US$1bil price tag would likely not just befor a stake in Amsteel Mills, but would alsoinclude stakes in other steel-making unitswithin the group. It said Baosteel could beroped in as a strategic investor for LionGroup's RM3.2bil blast furnace project, given

its expertise in the flat steel product segment.To recap, Lion Group's blast furnace projectwill be funded by China ConstructionBank with a RM2.3bil loan facility upon LionIndustries' shareholders' approval of a corpo-rate guarantee of RM656mil, which will becharged to Lion industries' 19% stakein Parkson Holdings Bhd.

However, to date, no announcement hasbeen made by Lion Industries regarding theEGM for the shareholders' approval. As

such, we believe that the current proposed joint venture between Lion Diversified, LionIndustries and Lion Forest Industries for theblast furnace project will most likely be calledoff, said RHB. We see Baosteel's potentialentrance into Lion Industries as highly posi-tive because it will bring along technical ex-pertise, financial resources, new client baseand branding, the research house added.

AmResearch also believed that Baosteelmight be brought in for the blast furnace pro-ject. If this is the case, it will be positive forthe group as the associated financial risks willbe spread and a renowned partner will pro-vide much-needed technical expertise in op-erating a large-scale blast furnace, it said.For the nine-month period ending March 31,2011, Lion Industries was the only companyamong the three to record a net profit. HongLeong Investment Bank, in its research note,said it did not foresee any financial impactfrom the potential acquisition by Baosteel.

There are still many uncertainties with re-gards to the latest news (even if the news

turns out to be true). The uncertainties in-clude the pricing, the size of the stake andwhether the US$1bil acquisition price in-cludes other steel assets within Lion Group ofCompanies, it said.

The research house, however, added that itwas positive on the latest news, if it material-ised. It said that the emergence of Baosteelinto Lion Industries would enhance the latter'ssteel operation's production and cost effi-ciency, help improve the company's balancesheet and cash-flow position and result in animmediate re-rating catalyst to Lion Indus-tries' share price if Baosteel was acquiringAmsteel Mills at high valuations. Meanwhile,OSK Research in its report said the Lion

Group's potential exit from the cyclical steelindustry via the disposal of Amsteel Mills toBaosteel would unlock the value of its steelunit. Although management declined com-ment when contacted, we think Baosteel mayhave recognised the fact that Lion Group'ssteel division offers a good platform to tapinto the robust growth potential in South-EastAsia, given the huge population in countrieslike Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as thelow steel consumption per capita, it said.

Lion Group could dispose of its other steelunits as well, it said, adding: Given the factthat Amsteel Mills is still making good money,particularly at its Klang plant and AntaraSteel's hot briquetted iron operation in La-buan, we think the group may be keen to exitthe bleeding flat steel unit underMegasteelSdn Bhd. Therefore, we suspect this dealmay involve Lion Group disposing of its othersteel businesses to completely relinquish itscontrolling stakes in the industry. Accordingto OSK, Lion Group's other steel businessesare Lion Diversified's 100% direct stakeinLion DRI Sdn Bhd, andLion Blast FurnaceSdn Bhd, plus direct and indirect stakes inMegasteel Sdn Bhd viaLion Corp.

(Source: The Star, 29 June 2011)

Strong Objections to Additional ImportStrong Objections to Additional ImportDuty on HRCDuty on HRC

A safeguard petition by Megasteel Sdn Bhd,the country's sole producer of hot rolled coils


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(HRC), that asks the Government to imposeadditional duty on imported HRC, has re-ceived strong objections from local down-stream steel players and foreign HRC export-ers. Megasteel, in its petition, is believed to

be asking for an additional 35% duty imposedon imported HRC, which currently attracts animport duty of 25%. Should the Governmentdecide to approve Megasteel's petition, manywill suffer, having to pay a hefty import duty ofabout 60% for HRC. Downstream steel play-ers are already bogged down with high elec-tricity and gas prices and, now, high raw ma-terial cost, said Malaysia Iron and Steel In-dustry Federation (MISIF) president ChowChong Long.

If the safeguard measure on imported HRC isapproved, it will represent the first safeguardmeasure by Malaysia to protect its domesticsteel product, an industry sourcetold StarBizon the sideline of a public hearingon the safeguard investigation on HRC im-ports into Malaysia at the International Tradeand Industry Ministry (Miti) yesterday. Thesource also believes that the success ofMegasteel's petition could set the precedentfor more safeguard petitions by local steelcompanies. I heard that some are already

preparing to seek protection for local steelwire rods and sections. High duty on im-ported HRC could also affect the exports ofend-steel products produced by local down-stream players to major countries like Japan,which in turn is one of the major suppliers ofimported HRC to Malaysia, the source added.

HRC is widely used as base material in vari-ous industries such as automotive, construc-tion, electric and electronics, fabrication, engi-neering and manufacturing. Megasteel,which is owned by Lion Group, alleges thatimports of HRC into Malaysia had increasedfrom 2007 to 2010 and had caused seriousinjury to the domestic industry in Malaysia. Inthe third quarter of 2010, the average domes-tic HRC price was RM115 per tonne versusthe lower import HRC price of RM85 pertonne. For the same quarter under review,the market share of imported HRC in Malay-sia was 52% compared with 48% for domes-tic HRC. As a result, Megasteel claimed it

suffered serious injury in terms of decliningmarket share, sales, production, capacity utili-

sation, insufficient cash flow and net losses.

Megasteel's petition is also being supportedby members of the Malaysian Steel Associa-tion (MSA), which represents top upstream

steel players such as Amsteel Mills SdnBhd, Antara Steel Sdn Bhd, KinsteelBhd, Perwaja Holdings Bhd, Perfect ChannelSdn Bhd, Ann Joo Steel Bhd, Ann Joo Inte-grated Steel Sdn Bhd and Malaysia SteelWorks (KL) Bhd. Meanwhile, MISIF dep-uty president Azlan Abdullah, who was at thepublic hearing, said MISIF members, particu-larly downstream steel players such as coldrollers, pipe and tubes and service centres,fully objected to Megasteel's petition.

At the hearing, MISIF was represented by itsconsultant Prof Jeffrey Waincymer of HowardConsulting Pty Ltd who explained the damag-ing impact of the safeguard measure todownstream steel players' business and bot-tomline. Azlan, who is also Mycron SteelBhd CEO, said: Even foreign exporters arenot happy with Megasteel's petition as re-flected by their full attendance at the publichearing. Nippon Steel Corp, SumitomoMetal Industries Ltd, Kobe Steel Ltd and Ni-shin Steel Co Ltd were represented by their

respective lawyers, whileJFE Steel Corp, Kra-katau Steel of Indonesia, Taipei-based ChinaSteel Corp and Chung Hung Steel Corp alsosent their representatives. The safeguardpetition by Megasteel had also attracted theattention of embassies of countries such asJapan, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Tai-wan and Thailand. The public hearing yester-day was chaired by Miti Multilateral TradePolicy and Negotiations Division sen-ior director J. Jayasiri.


Iron Ore News HighlightsIron Ore News Highlights

7 Shortlisted for Vale Mega Project7 Shortlisted for Vale Mega Project

Brazil's Vale International SA, the world's sec-ond largest mining company, has shortlistedas many as seven Malaysian companies toundertake the first phase of a US$2.5 billion

(RM7.45 billion) infrastructure developmentproject in Perak. People involved in the ten-


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der process told Business Times that theseven companies shortlisted for the firstphase work are required to submit a detailedplan by next week. It is understood that Mu-hibbah Engineering (M) Bhd, Gadang Bhd

and Sunway Construction Bhd are among theseven companies that have been shortlisted."All the submissions will have to be in by the10th of May," said a source. It is believedthat the first phase will focus on earth works job, as well as the flattening of land in thearea.

The total cost for the earth work portion of thecontract is estimated to be in the region ofbetween RM200 million and RM300 million.It is further understood that Vale expects the

chosen contractor to start work at the site byas early as July. Earlier, KYM Holdings Bhdwas awarded a contract by Vale to act asconsultant and also to help in securing landand development order approval from therelevant government authorities.

Last year, Vale also bought more than 460hectares of land in Teluk Rubiah, Manjung,near the Straits of Malacca from KYM Hold-ings Bhd for slightlty more than RM200 mil-lion. The land will be used to build a distribu-

tion centre and a pelletising plant, which willbe able to convert raw iron ore into pelletsthat are used in steel production. Vale alsointends to build a sea port for its own use as itwill be able to ship the pellets to China andIndia at a cheaper cost. The seaport terminalwill have a sufficient depth to accommodateships of 400,000 dead weight tonnes andhandling capacity for moving up to 30 milliontonnes of iron ore in the initial phase. Previ-ous reports citing Vale had said that the firstphase will involve a total capital expenditureof US$900 million (RM2.68 billion), which in-cludes the US$98 million (RM292 million) thecompany had already spent in 2010.


Vale Turns Focus to MalaysiaVale Turns Focus to Malaysia

Vale SA , the world's largest iron ore ex-porter, has foregone plans to build a distribu-

tion centre in China and will focus on makingMalaysia its main hub for Asian sales. A pre-

vious plan for a centre in China to stockpileVale's ore and ensure supply for clients in theregion "didn't advance", Eduardo Bartolomeo,the company's executive director for inte-grated bulk operations, said in an interview at

the company's headquarters in Brazil last Fri-day. He declined to elaborate on why Valewon't proceed with the plan.

Vale is seeking to increase its presence inAsia as it vies for clients in China, Japan andother countries in the region with BHP BillitonLtd and Rio Tinto Group, which ship most oftheir ore from ports in Australia. Brazil, whereVale produces the bulk of its supplies, isthree times farther from Asian markets thanAustralia. "The strategy is to be closer to the

customer," Bartolomeo said. "There's thepossibility of exploring other markets that wemay not be supplying now."

Vale is investing US$1.37 billion (RM4.16 bil-lion) to set up a maritime terminal in Malaysiawith capacity to dock its Valemax vessels andhandle as much as 30 million tonnes of ironore a year starting in the first half of 2014.Vale this year started production from aUS$1.36 billion (RM4.13 billion) iron ore pel-lets plant and distribution centre in Oman to

supply clients in the Middle East, North Africaand India.


Gadang Set to Win RM200m Vale DealGadang Set to Win RM200m Vale Deal

Gadang Holdings Bhd is poised to win a con-tract worth as much as RM200 million to carryout earthworks for a project in Perak, sourcesfamiliar with the plan said yesterday. Thecontract is part of a US$2.5 billion (RM7.45billion) infrastructure development by Brazil'sVale International SA, the world's secondlargest mining company. This will be Vale'smaiden award for the project. It is under-stood that an official announcement will bemade by as early as this week. BusinessTimes recently reported that Vale had short-listed seven Malaysian companies for the firstphase of the project. Among them are Mu-hibbah Engineering (M) Bhd, Sunway Con-

struction Bhd, DRB-HICOM Bhd and KYMHoldings Bhd.


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It is firmly believed that Gadang is favouredbecause it had submitted the lowest bid andthe company is committed to finishing the jobwithin the time frame given. KYM is acting as

the facilitator with the relevant governmentauthorities for Vale. KYM will assist Vale insecuring land and development order approv-als from the authorities. Vale officials werenot available for comment.

The first phase will focus on earth works andflattening of land in Teluk Rubiah, Manjung,near the Straits of Malacca. Vale owns460ha in Teluk Rubiah, which it bought lastyear from KYM for slightly more than RM200million. The land will be used to build a distri-

bution hub and a pelletising plant, which willbe able to convert raw iron ore into pelletsthat are used in steel production. Vale alsointends to build a sea port for its own use as itwill be able to ship the pellets to China andIndia at a cheaper cost. The hub will beready by 2014 to handle Chinamax carriers,which are 400,000-tonne iron ore vessels thatwill cut freight costs for Vale. It has been re-ported that Vale will spend US$1.3 billion(RM3.9 billion) for the first phase of the project to handle 30 million tonnes of iron ore a

year to meet global demand.


Coal News HighlightCoal News Highlight

MMC Unit to Build CoalMMC Unit to Build Coal--fired Power Plantfired Power Plant

Malakoff Corp Bhd, a 51%-owned subsidiaryof MMC Corp Bhd, will undertake the con-

struction and development of a 1,000MWcoal-fired power plant which will be situatedadjoining the existing Tanjung Bin powerplant. Malakoffs wholly-owned subsidiary,Transpool Sdn Bhd has accepted the condi-tional offer made by the Government, throughthe Energy Commission to undertake the project. The Tanjung Bin power plant is ownedby Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd, a subsidiaryof Malakoff.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, it saidthe offer by the Government to Transpool to

undertake the project was subjected the fi-nalisation of the terms of the agreements re-lating to the project and the approval of thedetailed environmental impact assessmentfrom the Department of Environment Malay-

sia. The project involves the design, supply,construction, commissioning, operation andmaintenance of a 1,000MW coal-fired powerplant on a build, own and operate basis with acommercial operation date of March 1, 2016.


Rare Earth News HighlightsRare Earth News Highlights

Rare Earth Prices Surge As Demand Out-Rare Earth Prices Surge As Demand Out-strips Suppliesstrips Supplies

Rare earth prices are reaching rarefiedheights. World prices have doubled in thelast four months for rare earths metallic ele-ments needed for many of the most sophisti-cated civilian and military technologies,whether smartphones or smart bombs. Andthis years increases come atop price gains ofas much as four-fold during 2010. the reasonis basic economics: demand continues to out-

strip efforts to expand supplies and breakChinas chokehold on the market.

Neodymium, a rare earth necessary for arange of products including headphones andhybrid electric cars, now fetches more thanUS$283/kg on the spot market. A year ago itsold for about US$42/kg. Samarium, crucialto the manufacture of missiles, has climbed tomore than US$146/kg, up from US$18.50 ayear earlier.

While the price inflation is a concern to manu-facturers, consumers in many cases willbarely notice the soaring cost of rare earths.Even though the materials are crucial to theperformance of everyday equipment likeautomotive catalytic converters and laptopcomputer display screens, rare earths aretypically used only in trace quantities. Oneexception is the Toyota Prius hybrid car,whose manufacture uses a kg of neodymium.

Toyota has been raising prices for the Prius,


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but has cited demand for the car and eco-nomic conditions. While acknowledging thatrising prices for raw materials in general haveaffected the companys overall financial re-sults, Toyota has declined to provide a break-

down of the role of rare earths. (Productionproblems stemming from the Japanese earth-quake and tsunami have also crimped sup-plies of Prius cars, which are made only inJapan). The high prices for rare earths reflectturmoil in the global industry that mines andrefines them. China, which controls morethan 95% of the market, has further restrictedexports so as to conserve supplies for its ownhigh-tech and green energy industries. Thatis despite the World Trade Organisations banon most export restrictions.

Meanwhile, an ambitious effort to open theworlds largest rare earth refinery in Malaysia,which had seemed certain to begin operatingby this autumn, is tied up over regulatory re-views of the disposal plans for thousands oftonnes of low-level radioactive waste theplant would produce annually. Public opposi-tion to the refinery is evident in the weeklyprotest demonstrations now being held. Atthe same time, Japanese companies are find-ing it harder than originally hoped to recycle

rare earths from electronics and to begin rareearth mining and refining in Vietnam.

Although rare earths are crucial to the supplychains of some of the worlds biggest manu-facturers, the industry that mines and refinesthem has long been characterised by small,entrepreneurial companies. Lately, though,soaring prices have contributed to industryconsolidation. Last month, for example, Sol-vay, a big Belgian chemical-industrial corpo-ration announced that it would pay US$4.8bilto acquire Rhodia of France, a technologicalleader in making complex chemicals basedon rare earths. That same day, April 4, Moly-corp, the only American company currentlyproducing rare earths, said it had paidUS$89mil for a more than 90% stake in Sil-met of Estonia, a much smaller company thatis Rhodias only European rival in rare earthprocessing.

In Malaysia, where the giant rare earth refin-

ery is under construction near Kuantan, regu-lators are delaying approval for an operating

permit amid public concern about naturallyoccurring low-level radioactive contaminationof the rare earth ore, which will be mined inAustralia. The Atomic Energy LicensingBoard director-general Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz

Raja Adnan said the board had asked LynasCorp of Australia, which is building the refin-ery, to provide additional documentation be-fore accepting its application for an initial op-erating permit. It would take up to six monthsto review the application, Raja Aziz said, andLynas would not be allowed to bring any rawmaterial to the plant until a permit was issued.

But Nicholas Curtis, Lynas executive chair-man, said he believed the company could ob-tain the necessary approvals before Septem-

ber and that his company was sticking to itsplan to begin feeding Australian ore into theMalaysian refinerys kilns by the end of thatmonth. The Malaysian government also an-nounced last week that it would appoint apanel of international experts to review thesafety of Lynas plans. The company said itwelcomed the move.

Toyota Tsusho, a materials purchasing unit ofthe Toyota Group, has separately encoun-tered complex local regulations as it seeks to

open rare earth mining and processing opera-tions in Vietnam. The project was announcedlast October during a Chinese embargo onrare earth shipments to Japan. TakeshiMutsuura, a spokesman, said Toyota Tsushonow hoped to reach a contract in Vietnam thissummer and start production in early 2013.As recently as last autumn, there were alsoambitious hopes in Japan to recycle rareearths from electronics waste. Dowa Hold-ings tried then to come up with ways to sepa-rate rare earths at a recycling factory in north-west Japan but found the task significantlymore difficult than recycling other, morewidely available precious metals.


Rare Earth Radiation Level Lower ThanRare Earth Radiation Level Lower ThanBitumen, Says AdnanBitumen, Says Adnan

Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaa-

kob says the radiation level emitted from thesoon-to-be completed Lynas Corporations


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rare earth refinery project will be far lowerthan the bitumen used to resurface roads.The bitumen used to make roads emit a ra-diation measurement of 2.6 mSv (milisieverts)while the rare earth processed by Lynas emit

0.156 mSv. It is not dangerous, he said.

Adnan, who will personally handle the publicbriefings on Lynas after the international inde-pendent panel establishes its findings on theproject, said it would be better for the publicto be well-informed about the issue and avoidlistening to slander spread by detractors.The Government will abide by the peopleswishes but they need to be guided by theright information and people, he added. Healso said the detractors appeared to have the

edge now in the battle of perception but itwould not be long before the truth prevailed.

According to facts issued by Lynas, the rawmaterial from Mount Weld in Australia wasnot the same as that processed at BukitMerah. The Asian Rare Earth raw materialwas tin mining tailings that contained highlevels of thorium which was the source of theradiation. The Lynas operation will use a rawmaterial that has naturally low levels of tho-rium (50 times lower than the tin tailings used

by Asian Rare Earth). The Mentri Besar alsoslammed Opposition politicians for exploitingthe Lynas issue during his speech at the ex-cellence awards presentation ceremony forstudents and schools in major public exami-nations at Pahang Foundation here on Tues-day.


Lynas: Its Safe to Transport Rare EarthsLynas: Its Safe to Transport Rare Earths

Lynas Corporation, which is building a rareearth plant in Gebeng near here, said yester-day the rare earths mined at Mount Weld inWestern Australia are safe to be transportedby road, rail and sea. The Australian Envi-ronmental Protection Authority (EPA) had inJune 2009 granted Lynas approval for safetransport of rare earths from the Mount Weldmine to the Fremantle Port in Australia, it saidin a statement to the New Straits Times.

"The EPA concluded that there was no radia-tion risk to public health or to the environ-

ment. Lynas is also confident that its proc-esses and procedures will continue to meetall regulations and are completely safe."

The company said some statements made

recently by political and special interestgroups were inaccurate and misleading. Itclaimed that the Mount Weld rare earths con-centrate was not classified as dangerousgoods by the criteria of the Australian Dan-gerous Goods Code for transport by road orrail, and was not classified as dangerousgoods for transport by sea under the Interna-tional Maritime Dangerous Goods Code2006. "The Lynas rare earths concentratehas been irresponsibly compared with theMagellan Metals' lead carbonate concentrate.

There can be no comparison between thetwo," it said, referring to the decision by theAustralian authorities to stop the export ofMagellan's raw materials from Australia be-cause of a lead scare early this year.

In terms of thorium levels, Lynas said thestatements made by two Australian politicians-- Lynn McLaren and Robin Chapple -- re-cently represented a personal, political pointof view and contained a number of factualand scientific inaccuracies. "The Mount Weld

rare earths concentrate is not considered asa radioactive material. The levels of the natu-rally occurring thorium are so low in the con-centrate that the material is not regulated fortransport as classified by the criteria of theAustralian Code of Practice for the SafeTransport of Radioactive Material 2001 andnot regulated for transport as classified by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency's SafeTransport of Radioactive Material regula-tions."

On the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant beingconstructed in Gebeng, the company said theRadiological Impact Assessment completedby Nuclear Malaysia on the storage of theresidues showed that they were safe andposed no risk to the public. However, Lynashas taken additional safety steps by planningto place the residues in specially-designedstorage cells to prevent any leakage into theenvironment. "These storage cells are moni-tored and regulated by both Lynas and Ma-

laysia's Atomic Energy Licensing Board(AELB) to ensure full compliance."


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Lynas is also subjected to strict conditions bythe AELB and it must obtain a decommission-ing licence, which includes the safe storageof any of the remaining residues. "Lynas has

also agreed to place funds with the Malaysiangovernment to ensure safe management ofany remaining residues as required by theAELB. Lynas began its education effort inKuantan in 2009 with a series of public brief-ings and they can be viewed atwww.facebook.com/lynasmalaysia. We con-tinue to engage the public through social me-dia, answering very specific questions aboutthe plant. Furthermore, Lynas welcomes theappointment of an independent panel cur-rently studying our plans for the plant in

Kuantan."


Chinas Rare Earth ExchangeChinas Rare Earth Exchange

China's biggest rare earth producer, BaotouSteel Rare Earth (Group) Hi Tech, has wonlocal government approval to start an ex-change to trade the increasingly lucrativemetals used in many high-tech goods, state

media reported yesterday. The regional gov-ernment of Inner Mongolia, where the Shang-hai-listed company's mining and processingoperations are based, gave the green light tothe establishment of a rare earth exchange inthe city of Baotou, the Xinhua news agencyreported, citing city officials and an earlierstatement from the Baotou Steel.

That company and another, Inner MongoliaHi-Tech Holding Co Ltd, would run the ex-change, said the report, which did not saywhen the bourse would open or whether thecentral government has also given its nod.The report called the decision abreakthrough in Chinese companies' effortsto establish a unified national exchange thatwould regularise market flows of rare earthsand give them greater leverage over foreignbuyers. But the exchange would confine it-self to relatively modest trading in at leastsome of the 17 elements categorised as rare

earths, the report suggested. The govern-ment required that the exchange should notdeal in futures trading, it said. Sourcesclose to the matter say the exchange canonly deal with spot transactions of rare earth.

The exchange would nonetheless help Chinaplay its influence over rare earth pricing onthe global market, said Xinhua, citing indus-try observers.

China controls about 97% of rare earth out-put, and has alarmed customers in Japan, theUnited States and Europe by clamping downon production and sale of rare earth ele-ments, citing a need to clean up highly pollut-ing production processes and to stop illegalexports. The crackdown cut exports by 62%

in the first four months of 2011 compared witha year earlier, and has been a windfall forrare earth miners and prospectors outsideChina, such as US firm Molycorp. China'sexports of rare earths fell by more than half inApr i l f r om a year p rev ious ly ,a Reuters breakdown of detailed Customsdata showed this week, despite headline offi-cial data that indicated a rise of 46%. Thismonth, Beijing said it would crack down onsmuggling of rare earths and impose quotasfor exports of rare earth alloy products as part

of its campaign to strengthen control over thesector.

(Source: The Star, 28 May 2011)Lynas Under The SpotlightLynas Under The Spotlight

The UN atomic energy panel studying thehealth and safety aspects of the proposedLynas Corp rare earth processing factory inGebeng, Pahang, is expected to wind up itswork tomorrow. The nine-member team, ledby Dr Tero Varjoranta, director of the In--ternational Atomic Energy Agencys (IAEA)Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste TechnologyDivision, has met 22 groups, including localresidents, political parties and the businesscommunity besides visiting the site of the pro-ject. They looked at ore transportation, radia-tion protection for workers, safety and wastemanagement as well as people living in thearea and the environment.

The project is on hold and the Government

has said it would not issue a pre-operating


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licence to Lynas or allow imports of ore to beprocessed pending the panels review. Butmany would have preferred that a study bedone before the decision was made to ap-prove the RM700mil Lynas Advanced Materi-

als Plant and give the Australian mining firm a12-year tax holiday. Strong public pressureto scrap the plant is the only reason that theexperts are here. As Consumers Associationof Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia presi-dent S.M. Mohamed Idris noted: Swift ap-proval for such a complex project would raiseserious questions. There is a good deal ofallegation that Gebeng would end up as adumping ground for radioactive by-products.

The Gebeng plant, aimed at supplying a third

of the worlds demand for rare earths, wasoriginally scheduled to be in operation bySeptember with ore shipped from the MountWeld mine in Western Australia. China nowproduces 97% of the worlds supply of rareearth elements, essential raw material for thefabrication of high-performance magnets andparts in hybrid and electric cars, wind-turbines and sophisticated electronic equip-ment. While the project has its supporters some of whom made their rowdy presencefelt on Tuesday during public submissions to

the panel opposition to it has been intensewith public forums, marches and protests. Toits credit, the panel did its best to keep poli-tics out of its technical mission throughout thethree-day study. It rejected a petition of52,000 signatures from a PKR MP and alsodeclined to accept a memorandum submittedby the MCA.

Based on Lynas estimates, 106 tonnes ofthorium waste could be generated each year,as well as residue to be some 1,655 parts permillion from the total of 64,000 tonnes of wa-ter leached purification process. But appar-ently, thorium is not all bad news. An in-creasing number of nuclear scientists, engi-neers, chemists, physicists and even environ-mentalists are looking at thorium as an asset,not a liability, if used in the right form asnuclear fuel.

South Africas North West University Schoolof Nuclear Science and Engineering Prof

Eben Mulder says thorium has the potentialto trigger a nuclear renaissance. It is sup-

posedly safer and produces much less waste.Better still, it actually feeds on radioactive plu-tonium waste, one of the most awful sub-stances on earth, as part of its power-generating process.

There are currently no thorium reactors in op-eration but they have worked in the past, inboth the US and the former Soviet Union.China, India and Russia are now in the proc-ess of developing them. Its proponents saythat liquid fluoride thorium reactors can helpreduce the tendency to manufacture nuclearweapons. The technology is 50 years old atleast. The original 8-megawatt LFTR (thencalled molten sat reactor or MSR) was cre-ated by the US Atomic Energy Commission at

Sandias Los Alamos and Oak Ridge Labora-tories.


Lynas Panels Meetings, Site Visits GoLynas Panels Meetings, Site Visits GoSmoothlySmoothly

The International Atomic Energy Agency's(IAEA) panel meetings to investigate thehealth and safety aspects of the Lynas Ad-

vance Material Plant (Lamp) proceededsmoothly yesterday. This was unlike thesituation on Monday and Tuesday when sup-porters and opponents of the rare earth proc-essing plant in Gebeng caused a ruckus dur-ing the meetings with the expert review panel.Yesterday, the nine-member panel visited theconstruction site of the RM700 million rareearth plant at the Gebeng Industrial Areahere. Police had beefed up security at theindustrial area by deploying more personneland setting up roadblocks about a kilometrefrom the entrance of the construction site.

Members of the media had gathered at theentrance of the construction site as early as8am only to be informed that the team of ex-perts were attending a briefing at the Lynasoffice in Gebeng and would visit the site be-fore lunch. The panel of experts, travelling intwo multi-purpose vehicles, visited KuantanPort before arriving at the Lynas Corporationoffice about 8.30am and attended the brief-

ing, which was followed by a question andanswer session. The panel members, ac-


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companied by police outriders, arrived at thesite at 11.40am before leaving with severalother vehicles for Sungai Balok, not far fromthe Gebeng Industrial Area. Some 20 min-utes later, they returned for a meeting at their

hotel in Teluk Chempedak here. The experts,who arrived here on Monday, had met withpublic representatives at the hotel and will beleaving for Putrajaya today.

The panel is expected to submit its findingsand recommendations to the government bythe end of this month. During their two-daymeeting, the panel held talks with electedrepresentatives from the ruling coalition andopposition parties, residents' associations,non-governmental organisations and profes-

sional bodies, including the Pahang BarCouncil and the Malaysian Medical Associa-tion. On Monday and Tuesday, shoutingmatches and scuffles broke out between thesupporters and opponents of the Lynas project. Police had to intervene and brought thesituation under control and disperse thegroups.


No Bypassing Safety StandardsNo Bypassing Safety Standards

On June 4, the International Panel of Inde-pendent Experts appointed to review the Ly-nas project returned to Vienna to complete itswork. The panel had been in Malaysia tostudy safety aspects of the proposed rareearth processing plant in Gebeng, Pahang,and will submit its report to the government atthe end of the month. This completes onephase of a decision-making process that hasimportant implications for the government andthe nation. Public safety will not be compro-mised by this People's First government. Letme explain.

The economic considerationsLynas Corporation Ltd is an Australian com-pany which was given a licence in January2008 to set up a manufacturing plant in Pa-hang. As a foreign investor, the company isno different from other foreign investors here.They come to our shores because they think

they can earn a decent return on their invest-ment and because they believe they will be

treated fairly according to established rulesand regulations. We welcome foreign invest-ments because they help us to moderniseand grow our economy. Not any investment,of course, but the right type of investment.

When we evaluate an investment proposal,we ask questions like: what benefits will itbring? Will there be spin-offs that can benefitother sectors of the economy? Will it create jobs? What kind of jobs? Will there be anytransfer of technology or skills? And so on.These are standard factors we take into ac-count when evaluating a foreign investmentproposal. A comprehensive due diligence ex-ercise will be undertaken for this purpose,and a yes or no decision will be made de-

pending on its findings.

Issues of governanceWhen the Lynas investment proposal wasfirst submitted to the government in 2006,however, it raised questions that went beyondthe ambit of these economic considerations.Issues of public safety and health, and envi-ronment were also involved. The governmentwas well aware then that the rare earth indus-try was associated with health and safety is-sues, especially after the experience of the

Asian Rare Earth (ARE) project in Perak inthe early nineties. So it was pertinent to askwhat impact the Lynas project would have onpublic health. How will it affect the environ-ment and the livelihood of people living in itsvicinity? Are these risks measurable, andwithin acceptable limits? Do we have therules, regulations and institutional frameworkto monitor and manage these risks?

Critical to the government's decision was thefact that the authorities had by then learntfrom the ARE experience and had a betterunderstanding of how to manage radiologicalrisks. By 2008, the rules and regulations gov-erning such activities had been revised andbrought up to international standards. A re-peat of ARE was not possible under the newregulatory regime. This explains why whenLynas was granted its manufacturing licence,the company was specifically required tocomply with the safety standards and goodpractices established by the Atomic Energy

Licensing Board (the regulator for the AtomicEnergy Licensing Act 1984) and the Depart-


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ment of Environment (regulator for the Envi-ronmental Quality Act 1974).

Among other things, these standards definethe amount of radiation exposure that is con-

sidered dangerous to workers, the public andthe environment. These standards apply to allphases of the Lynas project: construction, pre-operations, operations, transportation, wastemanagement, decommissioning and remedia-tion. A key feature of the work procedure in-volved is the staged-approval process Lynashas to undergo. For example, the companymust meet safety standards imposed at theconstruction phase before it can proceed toengage in pre-operations activities. And itcannot do the latter without first satisfying the

AELB and DOE that the safety standards ap-plicable in this next phase can be met.

This approval process, therefore, ensuresthat the safety standards imposed by theregulatory bodies cannot be bypassed, post-poned or avoided. Monitoring is continuouslycarried out to ensure that they are adheredto. At this point in time, Lynas has not ap-plied for nor has it received approval to pro-ceed to the pre-operations stage.

Independent Panel of International Ex-pertsThe Lynas project was discussed at publicbriefings in Kuantan and in Parliament in2009, but became a topic of more extensivedebate only after the Fukushima nuclear plantincident on March 11. It soon became clearthat some people living in the vicinity of theLynas site believed the project would poseunacceptable health and safety risks to hu-man life and the environment. In the view ofsome at least, the project should be termi-nated. This despite assurances by AELB andDOE that Lynas had to date complied with allsafety standards required of it.

While the government remained confident inthe integrity of the decisions taken by theregulatory bodies, it felt it owed the public,and the people of Kuantan in particular, aduty to ensure that their health and safetywould not be compromised. This was, andremains, the government's highest priority,

and overrides all other considerations. Ac-cordingly, on April 22, I announced the gov-

ernment's decision to invite the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to appoint anindependent panel of international experts tostudy all safety issues related to the Lynasproject.

The IAEA nominated a nine-member panel todo the job. The panel consisted of a leaderand eight members. All are world-renownedexperts on issues of radiological safety. Fourmembers are from the IAEA itself, and therest are from the Netherlands, Canada, India,the United Kingdom and Italy. No one fromAustralia, China or Malaysia was invited to bea panel member to avoid any possibility of aconflict of interest. The panel began its workimmediately and visited Malaysia from May

29 to June 4 to meet members of the public,representatives of Lynas, government offi-cials and visit the Lynas site. The governmentalso made elaborate arrangements to ensurethat anyone who wanted to make representa-tions to the expert panel could do so either inperson or in writing. Public announcementsoutlining these arrangements were made inall mainstream newspapers in Bahasa Malay-sia, English, Chinese and Tamil.

In the event, representatives from residents'

associations, non-governmental organisa-tions, community organisations, political par-ties and professional bodies did take advan-tage of the opportunity to meet the expertpanel and make their submissions at meet-ings held in Kuantan and Putrajaya.

Among the political parties that participated inthe sessions were Umno, MCA, PKR, Pasand DAP. Of course, YB Fuziah Salleh, themember of parliament for Kuantan, was in-vited and she used the opportunity to submither case to the expert panel. The panel hasundertaken to submit its findings and recom-mendations to the government by the end ofthis month, and the government will make thereport public.

Where do we go from here?How will the Lynas issue be resolved? Thegovernment's decision on the future of theproject will be guided by a few fundamentals.First, the health and safety of the rakyat is the

No. 1 priority. This overrides all other consid-erations, and any decision on Lynas will not


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be made at its expense.

Second, any decision taken will be based onfacts, not emotion or political considerations.The IAEA-appointed expert panel will deter-

mine the facts in this case, and the govern-ments decisions will be guided by its findingsand recommendations.

Third, the government continues to welcomeconstructive public discussion of this issue,and views it as an important component ofthe democratic process. On its part, the gov-ernment has sought to contribute to this proc-ess by making sure that anyone who wants tomake a submission to the expert panel is ableto do so either in person or in writing.

Fourth, the government will continue to acttransparently in its dealings with the public onthis issue. All public information and reportsrelated to the Lynas project are accessiblethrough relevant Web links.

These guidelines will ensure integrity in thegovernments decision-making and in the de-cisions that will finally have to be made.There are about 10 days to go before the ex-pert panel submits its report. Until then, it is

appropriate that all parties refrain from mak-ing comments that may prejudge the panelsfindings. I think investors will welcome thefact that this government makes its decisionsbased on facts and reason, and does not actarbitrarily. This incident also highlights theneed for investors to be responsible corpo-rate citizens in their host country. Theyshould adhere to standards of conduct andgovernance which are not in any way inferiorto those practised in their home country. Ithink these are legitimate expectations, andno enlightened investor will have any quarrelwith them.


Strict Safety Checks DoneStrict Safety Checks Done

Malaysia has learned its lesson about regu-lating radioactive materials from its experi-ence with the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in

Bukit Merah, Perak. Opened in 1975, thatplant was ordered to cease operations in

1992 by the Ipoh High Court as it was foundto emit radioactive gases. Atomic Energy Li-censing Board (AELB) director-general RajaDatuk Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan believes Ma-laysia now has one of the highest regulatory

standards for monitoring such activity, and ithas applied these standards to the proposedRM700 million Lynas Advanced MaterialsPlant at the Gebeng Industrial Estate nearKuantan Port.

The AELB was established as an enforce-ment body in 1985 under Section 3 of theAtomic Energy Licensing Act. Before then,the sole regulators were in the Health Minis-try, controlling radioactive materials in medi-cine only, he told the New Straits Times. Ma-

laysia now follows standards set by the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whichrequires licensing whenever there is radiationof 1,000 becquerels per kilogramme orabove. That is even stricter than Australia'sregulations, which require materials exceed-ing 4,000 becquerels per kilogramme of ra-diation to be licensed.

In an earlier news report, Australia's LynasCorporation Ltd said the level of thorium inthe raw material which it plans to ship from

Mount Weld in Western Australia would be 50times lower than that in Bukit Merah. RajaAziz noted that thorium was a naturally occur-ring radioactive material that, after a processof dilution, could be replaced into the earth.The AELB closely monitored technologicallyenhanced radioactivity, he stressed. "Whenyou process the ores, you are enhancing thenaturally occurring radioactivity. So there is astrong need to be in compliance with theregulation."

Lynas was asked to collect data of cases ofbirth defects and cancer in the Gebeng areabefore they began producing rare earth ox-ides and carbonates. "This way, we canmonitor if the cases occurred because of theLynas plant operation or due to other rea-sons," the director-general said. Workers atLynas would also be subjected to strict medi-cal checks before, during and after their stintat the processing plant. "We will have tomonitor them on a monthly basis. We are

also going to place an inspector-in-residenceat the plant," he said, and any indication of


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unusual amounts of radiation in workerswould be investigated.

The board, he added, already had data onthe level of existing environmental radiation

and would keep an eye on its activity shouldthe plant begin operation. "We have learnt alot from ARE. The whole site is now contami-nation-free and the land has been returned tothe Perak state government," he said. AnIAEA team of eight experts conducted asafety and health review of the proposedplant from May 29 to June 3, and will presenttheir findings to the government tomorrow.The report will be made public.


Business and Job SpinBusiness and Job Spin--offs Awaitoffs Await

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) areset to benefit from the rare earth industry, ac-cording to Deputy International Trade andIndustry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp)in Gebeng Industrial Estate, Pahang, wouldbring rare earth supply chain technology toMalaysia, providing both income and employ-

ment and attracting other high-technologyinvestments, he told the New Straits Times."It will create a cluster and spin-off effect onthe Malaysian economy, especially for SMEs,through the supply of local raw materials andservices."

Raw materials such as hydrochloric acid, so-dium hydroxide, sulphuric acid, kerosene,diesel, natural gas and lime would be sourcedlocally, he explained. According to Lynas, thecompany is expected to spend about RM146million during their first year of operations forthe services rendered by local SMEs." Muk-hriz listed some of the services from theSMEs which would be required by Lynas dur-ing its operations in Malaysia -- including gen-eral office service, landscaping, gardeningand pest control, cleaning services, travelagents, logistics (packaging and heavy vehi-cle rental), maintenance service (e.g. craneand lifting equipment, scaffolding, machining),information technology services and labora-

tory supplies. By the third year of operation,the company expects the amount spent on

SMEs' services to surge to RM450 million.The Lynas plant would employ 400 local peo-ple -- paying total annual salaries of RM31million or an average of RM68,000 perworker.

Rare earth is described as a strategic indus-try for the production of high technology ma-terials. Some are used to improve energy effi-ciency, for example, through compact fluores-cent lights, weight reduction in cars andhigher oil refinery yields. It also helps protectthe environment through emission controlsuch as in auto catalytic converters, dieseladditives and increased fuel efficiency. Andrare earth enables the development ofsmaller and more powerful digital technology

such as flat panel displays, disk drives andiPods or MP3 players. To date, Lynas hasinvested RM1.1 billion. The second phase ofthe project will incur additional investment ofRM640 million. Mukhriz said Lynas chosethe Gebeng site for its proximity to the Kuan-tan port, access to high quality chemicals andutilities, and the availability of skilled workers.

Other competitive advantages include loweroperating costs than Australia and no exportrestrictions, unlike China which imposes rare

earth export quotas. He said Lamp wouldmake Malaysia the source of nearly 33 percent of the world's rare earth element require-ments and is expected to attract major hightechnology companies to locate their projectshere. Currently, China produces 95 per centof rare earth supply globally. "As rare earthelements are vital to the production of all effi-cient, high-technology products, the produc-tion by Lynas will ensure Malaysia's continu-ous role in green technology development,"said Mukhriz. Malaysia would become thesecond largest producer of rare earth in theworld and play a significant role in one of thefastest growing industries in the global econ-omy, he said.



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Other Minerals/Metals NewsOther Minerals/Metals NewsHighlightsHighlights

BHP Sees Fragile Global EconomyBHP Sees Fragile Global Economy

Top global miner BHP Billiton sees the globaleconomy remaining fragile in the near termand warned that economic growth could slowin the medium term, echoing recent com-ments from rival Rio Tinto. BHP Billiton chair-man Jacques Nasser said yesterday thatmoves by the US and Europe eventually toraise interest rates to tame inflation couldcome when their economies remain vulner-able. In the short term, although many

economies are recovering, the world remainsin a fragile state with persistent levels of un-employment and threats of inflation, BHPchairman Jacques Nasser said at a businesslunch. For the medium term, we should beprepared for further downside as globalmonetary and fiscal tightening and economicrestructuring take hold, he said.

BHP plans to spend US$80 billion over fiveyears to expand iron ore, coal, copper and

uranium production to meet soaring Asiandemand, undeterred by day-to-day commod-ity price swings. BHP plans to decide in 2012whether to go ahead with an expansion of itsOlympic Dam mine, which could cost morethan US$20 billion as it looks to triple themines copper production and more thanquadruple uranium capacity.

Chief executive Marius Kloppers said lastweek he did not expect Japans nuclear crisisto affect the expansion plan, and Nasser said

the world would need a range of energysources to meet rising demand while cuttingcarbon emissions. Nasser warned againsthasty moves to clamp down on nuclear en-ergy following a call by Japans Prime Minis-ter Naoto Kan to close a nuclear plant in cen-tral Japan. I dont think an overreaction atthis point is valuable for the world and for en-ergy solutions, he said. I still think thatthere is, inside of the whole energy mix solu-tion for the world, a place for safe nucleargeneration of power, Nasser said.

(Source: The Sun, 9 May 2011)

Indias Reliance to Invest in IndonesiaIndias Reliance to Invest in Indonesia

Reliance ADA Group, a leading Indian con-glomerate, will invest between US$5 billionand US$10 billion (US$1 = RM3.03) in mining

infrastructure in Indonesia, the investmentchief of Indonesia said yesterday. Reliancewill invest in the coal sector, in power plantsand infrastructure in the near future, said GitaWirjawan, chairman of the Indonesian Invest-ment Coordinating Board.

Indonesian has seen a steady pick-up in in-vestor interest over the past 18 months in-cluding from India, thanks to a combination ofpolitical stability and improving economicgrowth sustained by strong domestic con-

sumption and demand for commodities rang-ing from coal to palm oil.


LME, SGX to Start Lead, Steel FuturesLME, SGX to Start Lead, Steel FuturesTrade in Q3Trade in Q3

The London Metal Exchange and SingaporeExchange Ltd will begin trading lead andsteel futures on the Singapore bourse in the

third quarter, according to Liz Milan, manag-ing director of LME Asia. Each dollar-denominated lead contract will represent fivemetric tons of metal, while the steel contractwill represent 10 tonnes of the alloy, com-pared with the benchmark 25-tonne and 65-tonne contracts traded in London, Milan saidin an interview in Singapore.

The LME is expanding in Asia as growth inthe region is structural, chief executive offi-cer Martin Abbott said in July. The SingaporeExchange started trading LME-SGX copper,zinc and aluminum futures on Feb 15 afteropening an office in Singapore last year.


Tariff Hike to Hit MillersTariff Hike to Hit Millers

The hike in electricity tariff and gas prices willimpact the steel, cement and glove manufac-

turing sectors, according to research firms.HwangDBS Vickers Research said the full-


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year earnings projections of steel mak-ers Southern Steel Bhd and KinsteelBhd might be lower by between 17% and25% while forecast earnings for glove manu-facturers Top Glove Corp Bhd and Kossan

Rubber Industries Bhd could drop by between5% and 7%. CIMB Research said electricityaccounted for 8% of total costs for steelmaker Ann Joo Resources Bhd as well as18% of those for c

malaysian minerals bulletin may-june 2011

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