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To: LoneClone who wrote (18024)	4/18/2008 8:29:02 PM
From: LoneClone	Respond to of 192974

Zinc price fall predictions 'misinformed' Article from: The Advertiser news.com.au CAMERON ENGLAND April 17, 2008 11:30pm TERRAMIN Australia believes analysts predicting a significant drop in zinc prices are misinformed. The soon-to-be zinc and lead miner, which will hold its annual meeting in Adelaide next week, is scheduled to start producing lead/zinc concentrate at its Angas mine near Strathalbyn in June. Executive chairman Kevin Moriarty said in the quarterly report this week he believed analysts who were bearish about the outlook for zinc were reading the market poorly. ``Supposedly in 2008 there is predicted to be an oversupply of concentrates that flow into lower zinc prices,'' he said. ``So far, zinc stockpiles amount to only a few days' supply and zinc prices have not fallen markedly. ``Our commercial team have not been able to verify oversupply predictions, and argue that any lower prices would simply curtail new projects and some higher-cost production. ``They also contend that it is quite unrealistic to suppose that Chinese mine production can maintain the high growth rates of the past three years.'' Dr Moriarty said globally there were no large, low-cost zinc projects in the pipeline ``and many existing mines will start declining from 2010''. Add to this that capital costs had been increasing significantly, he said. Goldman Sachs JBWere is among the analysts predicting a looming oversupply of zinc. "Having enjoyed two years of major global deficit in 2005 and 2006, we believe the zinc market returned to modest surplus in 2007, with the threat of more severe oversupply looming for 2008 and 2009,'' the broker said in its Market Outlook 2008. * The Author Owns Terramin Australia shares.

To: LoneClone who wrote (18024)	4/18/2008 8:31:38 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 192974

UPDATE 1-POSCO to invest $200 mln in S.African manganese mine Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:57am EDT reuters.com (Adds details) SEOUL, April 18 (Reuters) - South Korean steel maker POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it would invest $200 million to take 13 percent of a South African manganese mine, its latest move to add mining assets and cut pressure from soaring raw material prices. POSCO said the purchase will be made by joining international consortium Pallinghurst, which owns 49.9 percent of the Kalahari mine in Northern Cape province and is controlled by privately held coal firm AMCI (American Metals & Coal International) and South African financial firm Investec (INVP.L: Quote, Profile, Research). POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel maker by output and No.2 by market value, said the deal will help it secure 25 percent of its annual requirement of manganese MNG-LON, used to harden stainless steel. The project is expected to start production in 2010 and POSCO will get 130,000 tonnes of manganese supply annually from the project. POSCO said it would also actively pursue investing in global iron ore and coal assets through an alliance with the consortium. The decision comes after POSCO agreed to pay Brazilian miner Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) 65 percent more for its iron ore from April and to treble what it pays an Australian supplier for coking coal. Rising raw material costs are pushing up inflationary pressure across Asia, adding to soaring food and energy bills, and hitting steel mills hard as they do not own large mining assets, unlike western rivals such as ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) and U.S. Steel Corp (X.N: Quote, Profile, Research). Pallinghurst, run by former BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) chief executive Brian Gilberston and AMCI president Hans Mende, plans to invest $1.5 billion in global mining projects by 2012. Shares in POSCO, the second-largest firm in South Korea, were down 0.1 percent to 449,500 won by 0555 GMT. (Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Keiron Henderson)