GrainCorp’s exports face delays, Mineral Resources opens off-market takeover bid for Norwest Energy and Magellan shares plummet
GrainCorp has harvested 10 million tonnes of grain this season but rail and road delays are making it hard to get to port.
Agriculture giant GrainCorp (ASX: GNC) has confirmed export delays caused by rail and road bottlenecks as countries including China try to secure food supply from one of Australia’s most successful harvests.
Last week the giant reached the 10 million tonne milestone for grain delivered into its east coast receival network and insisted there is more to come after floods caused delays in southern NSW and Victoria.
The company expects support for Australian wheat, barley and canola to continue, with strong prices and high demand driven by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
GrainCorp chief operating officer Klaus Pamminger reassured the grain prices were higher than this time last year due to the war.
Mr Pamminger added the harvest on the east coast had been slower than usual as a result of the weather but GrainCorp was satisfied with the yields and the quality produced by farmers.
“This crop and harvest have been more challenging than the last two, but we are pleasantly surprised at how well the yields have held up and by the quality,” he said.
GrainCorp called on more than 3,000 additional casual workers to help with the recent harvest.
Mr Pamminger said although GrainCorp’s seven east coast port terminals were shipping large volumes of wheat, truck and rail delays made it difficult for bulk handlers to transport the grain to port.
Mineral Resources
Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) has opened its off-market takeover bid for oil and gas company Norwest Energy (ASX: NWE), after the deal was announced back in December.
The $403 million deal will see the giant acquire all Norwest shares it doesn’t own at a ratio of one Mineral Resources share per 1,367 Norwest shares.
Mineral Resources said the acquisition aims to decarbonise its mining operation with the use of natural gas, as well as contribute to new mineral product lines.
The offer will close on 6 February, adding to the 19.9% of Norwest Energy shares that Mineral Resources currently owns.
Norwest has urged its shareholders to take no action in relation to the takeover bid.
The company said it will release a target statement sometime in January reassuring shareholders of its position.
Argosy Minerals
Argosy Minerals (ASX: AGY) has announced further developments at the Rincon lithium project, located in Argentina’s Salta Province, confirming 98% completion of its 2,000-tonne-per-annum lithium carbonate operation.
The company also confirmed current commissioning works were at 90% completion, as the company produced battery quality 99.76% lithium carbonate product.
Argosy aims to finish the commissioning and production test works phase over the coming weeks, before commencing the production ramp-up phase during the current quarter.
The company is targeting to complete the ramp-up phase and achieve steady-state production operations by end of the 2023 second quarter.
Argosy managing director Jerko Zuvela said the company looks to continue its progress in 2023 and achieve “significant” near-term growth phase for the company.
“The company has achieved momentous growth and development at our Rincon lithium project 2,000tpa operation during 2022 as we advance towards becoming the second ASX-listed commercial-scale lithium carbonate producer,” he said.
“The company will now look to complete the 2,000tpa operation commissioning works and progress with ramping up toward steady-state production operations and producing battery quality lithium carbonate product.”
Magellan Financial Group
After watching its share price surge in recent sessions, fund management company Magellan Financial Group’s (ASX: MFG) shares have since plummeted following an update of net outflows of $2.6 billion in December.
Of the $2.6 billion, retail investors redeemed $600 million in December, while institutional investors accounted for $2 billion of the outflows.
At the end of December, Magellan’s funds under management sat at $45.3 billion, comprising of $20.6 billion across global equities, $16.2 billion across infrastructure equities, and $8.5 billion across Australian equities.
The total of $45.3 billion funds under management signalled a $4.9 billion or 10% reduction since the end of November, with unfavourable foreign exchange movements said to have played its part in the downfall.
Shares in Magellan have fallen more than 50% over the past year.
Core Lithium
Australian lithium miner Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) has completed its maiden shipment of lithium product from the giant’s Finniss operation on the Cox Peninsula located in the Northern Territory.
The shipment contained 15,000 dry metric tonnes of 14% lithium oxide spodumene direct shipping ore (DSO) from Finniss, departing from Darwin’s port with its sights set on a customer in China.
It marks the company’s first shipment of lithium product from the operations and the company believes it marks a “significant” milestone in Core’s journey to deliver sustained shareholder value.
Core Lithium chief executive officer Gareth Manderson said he was proud of the combined efforts in enabling its operations at Finniss to further advance.
“This first shipment of lithium product has also allowed our team to successfully commission the logistics chain linking Finniss to the Darwin Port,” he said.
“Our focus now is to safely complete construction of the dense media separation (DMS) plant at Finniss to enable us to produce high-quality spodumene concentrate.”