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Rio rebuffs Glencore approach

RIO Tinto has confirmed it was approached by Glencore in July about a potential mega-merger, which would create the world's largest mining company.

There had been rumours last month that acquisitive Glencore boss Ivan Glasenberg might have set his sights on Rio but speculation went into overdrive overnight when Bloomberg reported that Glencore was planning a bid for 2015.

The report, citing people familiar with the situation, said Glencore approached Rio's major shareholder Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) to gauge its interest in a potential combination.

Earlier this year, Glencore confirmed it was in talks with Rio about combining its Hunter Valley coal operations.

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Oil's Tomb Raider-style geo grab

THIS is what global oil and gas companies are doing to poach budding geologists and engineers. Miners, the ball is in your court.

Budapest-headquartered oil company MOL Group has channelled the Tomb Raider computer game and Hollywood franchise in a new exploration and production talent drive for geoscience and petroleum engineering graduates and students - with winners gifted a career pathway, for real.

Judging by the poster, they could be onto a winner. The promo video looks like a Mission: Impossible trailer, with the concluding slogan, "enter if you dare"

Basically it's a computer game (though MOL says "it's not a game, it's an online simulation") where gamers … er, budding geologists and petroleum engineers … can explore, collect data and analyse it; develop exploration proposals; gain seismic surveys; make analysis and interpretation; model, map and plan drilling campaigns; and make drilling, logging, well testing and reserve assessments. All in Pakistan's oil fields.

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BHP to slash iron ore costs

BHP Billiton has outlined plans to boost Pilbara iron ore production and lower costs as it acknowledged iron ore supply would exceed growth in the short to medium term.

As part of a three-day investor tour to the Pilbara, which starts today, BHP iron ore president Jimmy Wilson announced the plans to slash unit costs by at least 25% and increase capacity by 65 million tonnes per annum for a low capital cost.

Wilson said the company had already seen a 12% reduction in unit costs in the first six months of 2014 to $US25.89 per tonne but planned to go further.

"We have already significantly cut the cost of production at Western Australia Iron Ore and plan to go further," Wilson said.

"We expect unit cash costs of less than $20 per tonne in the medium term, a reduction of more than 25% on the average achieved in the 2014 financial year."

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Global protest wave hits Rio

MINING giant Rio Tinto will today face protests around the world in a coordinated day of defiance by thousands of its employees across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, demanding safer workplaces, secure jobs and respect for workers' rights.

The global protests, organised internationally by IndustriALL Global Union, which represents 50 million workers in 140 countries, come on the heels of a spate of fatalities at a worksite in Indonesia where Rio Tinto has a major investment.

Events will include rallies, stop-work meetings and other worksite actions, with Australia's Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union to launch a report into what it claims are Rio Tinto's "insecure" work practices, "which the company disguises under the banner of ‘direct engagement'".

The report claims to expose Rio Tinto's "anti-union philosophy" of its "direct engagement" management strategy.

"The problem with Rio Tinto's practices [regarding engaging with employers] is that they have transformed this routine set of arrangements into an anti-union strategy," the report stated.

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Bribery concerns heat up

ST BARBARA is at the centre of investigations by the Australian Federal Police regarding benefits paid to a Solomon Islands politician.

The company confirmed the investigations on Friday after a report in the Solomon Star flagged the payment of benefits to the official from Allied Gold, which was acquired by St Barbara in September 2012.

St Barbara acknowledged the incident as early as July, saying its internal reporting mechanisms had detected potential violations to its anti-bribery policy and anti-corruption laws.

The matter is also being pursued by the UK Serious Fraud Office and the Solomon Islands Attorney General.

St Barbara declined to comment further on the investigation except to correct the Solomon Star' report, which stated that former chief executive Tim Lehany and company secretary Ross Kennedy had been "dismissed."

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