According to The Australian Financial Review, economists have warned that the Reserve Bank of Australia may not achieve its inflation target for at least two more years without higher interest rates, unless Treasurer Jim Chalmers uses the upcoming budget to cool the economy.
Analysts say the RBA will almost certainly be forced to revise higher its near-term inflation forecasts at its board meeting next week, after March quarter inflation figures were stronger-than-expected. The headline consumer price index increased 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to March, above the RBA’s indicative forecast of 3.5 per cent. The bank’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, the trimmed mean, was 4 per cent, above the central bank’s expectation of 3.8 per cent. https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/high-inflation-may-last-another-two-years-unless-rates-rise-again-20240429-p5fnaa?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=1&cx_experienceId=EXIRQ0BX6VHL&cx_experienceActionId=showRecommendationsYDEQYCFG6XO314#cxrecs_s
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Japan Inc will back the development of one of the world’s biggest nickel deposits in Western Australia in a move that casts further doubt on whether the Albanese government will bail out BHP and its struggling operations.
Sumitomo and Mitsubishi have agreed to back Ardea Resources and its $3.1 billion nickel laterite and cobalt project, about 80 kilometres from Kalgoorlie and BHP’s ageing nickel smelter. Ardea, Sumitomo and Mitsubishi will form a partnership to develop Goongarrie, sharing the cost of feasibility study up to $98.5 million. The Japanese partners will help secure debt funding on favourable terms and emerge with a 50 per cent stake alongside Ardea if the project goes ahead. Sumitomo, which would own 40 per cent of the combined entity alongside Mitsubishi’s 10 per cent, has experience in developing nickel laterite mines and HPAL processing plants through two big operations in the Philippines – Coral Bay and Taganito – and owns nickel refineries in Japan. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/japan-inc-backing-for-nickel-mine-puts-bhp-bailout-in-doubt-20240429-p5fndw
According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP Group proposal for a $US39 billion ($60 billion) takeover of rival Anglo American is all about securing plenty of copper supplies — so now, the potential deal is throwing uncertainty over the future for Anglo’s massive fertiliser mine in England.
That’s largely because BHP is already building its own giant fertiliser project in Canada, called Jansen, to which it’s already committed more than $US10 billion. With an accelerated expansion planned for Jansen, BHP is unlikely to be interested in also going big on Anglo’s Woodsmith site. If BHP is successful with its takeover deal, it would spark the industry’s biggest shakeup in more than a decade. BHP, already the largest miner, would gain control of roughly 10 per cent of global copper mine supply ahead of a forecast shortage that’s expected to drive up prices. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/bhp-s-bid-for-anglo-casts-cloud-over-9b-mine-20240427-p5fmz9
According to The Australian Financial Review, Shizen Energy Group, a Japanese renewables player that has developed 1.3 gigawatts of assets since its founding in 2011, is seeking backers for its first Australian bet.
Street Talk understands Shizen has acquired exclusivity over a 200-megawatt pipeline of solar assets in NSW and Victoria alongside development partner Bison Energy – another Japanese player that already has 14 projects in Australia. Now, Shizen wants an equity investor that could help it turn the early-stage project into saleable electricity. https://www.afr.com/street-talk/japan-s-shizen-energy-seeks-equity-backer-for-aussie-solar-play-20240421-p5flh5
According to The Australian Financial Review, it’s down to the short strokes at Whitehaven Coal’s sale of a minority stake in Bowen Basin’s Blackwater metallurgical coal mine, bought alongside Daunia for about $6.4 billion from BHP and Mitsubishi last year.
Sources said JFE Steel Corporation, Japan’s second-largest steel producer after Nippon Steel, is in advanced discussions to acquire a circa 10 per cent stake in Blackwater. The suitor is already a shareholder at QCoal’s $1.76 billion Byerwen mine in the region, which feeds its West Japan steelworks. Of note, Whitehaven Coal, in tandem, is in active discussions with a handful of other suitors, including India’s JSW Group, to come onto Blackwater’s register alongside JFE. Japanese trading house Itotchu has kept close to Whitehaven for months. https://www.afr.com/street-talk/whitehaven-s-blackwater-selldown-may-be-upsized-jfe-keen-20240418-p5fkva
According to The Australian Financial Review, Greenbushes, the country’s largest and most lucrative lithium mine, recorded a profit of almost $6.3 billion in the 12 months to December 31, a significant increase from one year earlier even as the broader green metals sector struggles financially.
The mine, south of Perth, is jointly owned by North Carolina-headquartered giant Albemarle, China’s Tianqi and ASX-listed IGO Limited. Its holding company paid almost all the profit in 2023 – $6.27 billion of $6.28 billion – to shareholders, new accounts filed with the corporate regulator shows. The net profit compared to $3.26 billion in 2022, and came after a major expansion of the mine. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/the-country-s-largest-lithium-mine-unveils-bumper-6-3b-profit-20240401-p5fgj8
According to The Australian Financial Review, in what is believed to be a world-first product for sale, Canberra-based start-up Samsara Eco has created clothing made with an enzymatically recycled product that can, in turn, be recycled infinitely.
CEO Paul Riley said the project, in collaboration with Canadian athleisure giant Lululemon, marks a watershed moment in the future of textile recycling. “It’s a very exciting day for us,” Mr Riley said. “This is a first-of-its-kind piece of clothing that has been 18 months in the making.” Though clothing recycling is not new, Samsara’s technology is different. “What’s unique about this is that most recycled clothes are made from remnants of the packaging industry. Clear PET bottles are turned back into polyester fibre and mixed with other products like nylon or polyurethane, and then coloured.” This closed-loop process means the garments cannot be recycled again, and “are destined for landfill” Mr Riley said. Samsara’s proprietary technology, EosEco, uses a combination of biophysics, chemistry, biology and computer science (such as artificial intelligence) to create plastic-eating enzymes. The enzymes break down waste into raw materials, which are then combined with existing manufacturing processes to make new products – such as the Lululemon Packable Anorak jacket, on shelves this week. https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/fashion-and-style/the-aussie-company-making-leggings-last-a-lifetime-20240402-p5fgsy
According to The Australian Financial Review, exploration spending in the resources sector in the last three months of 2023 was the best December quarter in 10 years, as prospecting for clean energy metals remained robust despite market jitters over lower EV demand from China.
The December-quarter figures, compiled by advisory firm BDO and spanning companies purely in the exploration phase not yet earning revenue, show the strongest December quarter since 2013, revealing a high appetite for risk in the market. The 23 per cent increase in companies spending between $100,000 and $300,000 on exploration compared with the previous quarter reflected encouraging signs for the mining sector, said Sherif Andrawes, BDO’s global natural resources boss. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/mine-prospecting-booms-among-cashed-up-explorers-20240326-p5ffa3
According to The Ausstralian Financial Review, a Tasmanian start-up has joined forces with a premium dairy producer to engineer the world’s first low-emissions milk by feeding digestive seaweed in micro-doses to cows.
The eco-milk, made by Ashgrove, boasts up to 25 per cent less methane emissions than other full cream varieties. The secret lies in a native Australian seaweed called asparagopsis. Two-litre bottles are available on supermarket shelves in Tasmania for $5.50, slightly more than Ashgrove’s full cream milk ($5.25), but managing director Richard Bennett said he hoped to roll it out on the mainland as well. https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/it-s-a-lot-cheaper-than-buying-a-tesla-low-carbon-milk-has-arrived-20240325-p5ff4g
According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia powers Japan, literally, supplying more than one-third of its energy needs. For decades, Japanese investment in energy projects and Japan’s energy purchases have helped build Australian prosperity. But that’s been in fossil fuels and the bilateral economic relationship will need a total transformation as both countries pursue transition to net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia has work to do in improving its investment environment, not just for Japanese companies. Australia has become a net capital exporter in recent years after consistently being a net importer of capital because domestic savings were insufficient to fund growth. Australia needs foreign capital to help build the infrastructure needed for population growth, domestic energy needs and to become a green energy exporter. The new complementarity in Australia-Japan energy trade won’t be realised through market forces alone because of the large-scale national investment in infrastructure needed in both countries. An elevation of leadership, investment in both capital and human networks by government and industry from both countries and close co-operation is needed to transform the energy relationship. Anything short of that is likely to frustrate the energy transition and see the withering of energy as a pillar of the bilateral economic relationship. The energy relationship between Australia and Japan has to be entirely re-thought. Instead of Australia shipping raw energy to Japan, it is becoming cheaper and cleaner to produce intermediate inputs, processing more minerals in Australia, and exporting the embodied energy to Japan and beyond. https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/why-australia-needs-a-new-energy-partnership-with-japan-20240319-p5fdh0 |
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