China further opens bond market to overseas investors www.chinadaily.com

BEIJING - China opened its foreign exchange derivatives market to overseas non-central bank institutional investors on Monday.

Coal revival means big stock bonuses at bankrupt Peabody www.reuters.com

A year ago, Peabody Energy Corp's (BTUUQ.PK) chief executive was presiding over $2 billion of losses as the world's largest private sector coal miner spiraled into bankruptcy.

Now, CEO Glenn Kellow and other top executives stand to reap tens of millions of dollars in stock bonuses under Peabody's bankruptcy exit plan, which sets aside 10 percent of newly minted shares for employees.

The executives would collect a big portion of that stock when the company exits bankruptcy, expected in April. The shares would be worth about $15 million for Kellow and between $3 million and $5 million for each of five other executives, according to a company estimate.

But some shareholders and creditors who are challenging Peabody in bankruptcy court say the executives could reap a much bigger windfall. That's because Peabody's estimate severely undervalues the stock, they argue.

The company's valuation, they contend, fails to properly reflect the impact of President Donald Trump's unexpected election victory and regulatory changes in Beijing that have stoked demand for coal in China.

The critics include hold-out creditors who complain they are getting shorted by a deal hammered out by Peabody executives and hedge funds that hold the bulk of the company's debt, which totals about $8 billion. The funds - led by Elliott Management, Discovery Capital Management and Aurelius Capital Management - would benefit from a lower valuation because it would give them more shares of the newly created Peabody stock, which will be used to pay off their bonds.

"You'd think this was one of the hottest IPOs in the world," said Fredrick Palmer, who retired from Peabody in 2014 as a senior vice president and will be left with Peabody's old and essentially worthless stock.

Some shareholders and creditors are expected to oppose Peabody's Chapter 11 exit plan when the company seeks approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis in March.

By any estimate, the stock in Peabody's management incentive plan is unusually valuable for a bankrupt company.

Peabody predicts it will be worth $310 million based on a $3.1 billion market capitalization, a figure the company said is appropriate given the volatile nature of global commodity markets.

Critics contend the stock could be worth up to three times that amount. Palmer estimates the initial stock award to Kellow could be worth as much as $43.5 million. That would top all restricted stock grants in 2015 by U.S. public companies with at least $1 billion in revenue, according to a survey by the Equilar consulting firm.

Peabody spokesman Vic Svec disputed Palmer's estimate and said that one-time bankruptcy exit awards should not be compared with other companies' annual stock grants. Peabody followed widely accepted pay practices for companies in Chapter 11, Svec said, and offers stock grants to all 7,000 of its employees.

Companies emerging from bankruptcy generally give stock to executives to align the interests of management with new shareholders, who are usually former creditors. The percentage of stock being granted to Peabody executives is standard for a company exiting Chapter 11, according to John Dempsey, a partner at the Mercer consulting firm.

AN UNLIKELY RALLY IN COAL

The potentially high stock value stems from an unexpectedly positive near-term outlook for the coal industry, based in part on Trump's promises of deregulation.

"Many coal companies were convinced that Hillary Clinton would seek to destroy the industry," said Nathan Yates, director of research at Forward View Consulting.

For a bankrupt company, Peabody has drawn unusually high interest among investors. The company's bonds rallied in recent months, and the miner was able to easily raise money in financial markets. Creditors including the Appaloosa Management hedge fund sued so they could get access to Peabody's new stock.

Prices for seaborne coal, which Peabody produces from Australian mines, rose sharply in the second half of last year, driven by higher demand from China after the government there closed money-losing coal mines. That sparked a rally in the shares of miners such as Cloud Peak Energy Inc (CLD.N) and Australia's Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC.AX).

Long-term prospects for the coal industry, however, remain uncertain. The Chinese government has for years worked toward cleaner energy to ease choking smog in cities and is now considering cuts to coal-consuming heavy industries.

It also remains unclear how Trump policy changes would make coal cheaper than abundant U.S. natural gas.

At Peabody's estimated value, the company would start trading with a market capitalization just below the industry leader, CONSOL Energy Inc (CNX.N), which is shifting from coal to natural gas production.

Kellow and his management team will have to wait one year before they can sell a portion of their incentive-plan stock and three years before they can sell all of it.

SURVIVING CHAPTER 11

Surviving the bankruptcy at all is a victory for Peabody executives. Top managers are often shown the door when a company declares Chapter 11.

Many energy producers, however, retained executives during the recent wave of industry bankruptcies, which many boards of directors blamed on a once-in-a-generation price collapse rather than mismanagement.

Kellow joined Peabody from BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) in 2013 and took the helm in May 2015, after the industry had slumped on weak China demand and a shift by U.S. power plants away from coal to cheap natural gas.

In his first three years, as the company stumbled, the board awarded Kellow restricted stock worth a combined $6.58 million, as part of his overall pay of $14.37 million.

Those shares were rendered essentially worthless by the bankruptcy, but the company replaced much of the lost compensation with a plan that could allow up to $11.9 million in cash bonuses for executives, including up to about $4 million for Kellow.

The cash bonuses would be paid in addition to the stock awards that executives stand to collect. Peabody said the cash bonus plan, which is based on 2016 and 2017 performance benchmarks, was in line with other bankrupt companies.

For both the stock and cash incentives, creditors had the chance to object when the plans were negotiated, said Jonathan Lipson, a professor at Temple Law School.

"The creditors apparently accepted it," he said, "and it's their money."

(Reporting by Tracy Rucisnki and Tom Hals; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Brian Thevenot)

Lunar New Year of Red Fire Rooster welcomed www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Tsagaan Sar or Lunar New Year officially begins when the sun rises on the first day of spring /by lunar horoscope/. This lunar year is attributed as a Red Fire Rooster.

Mongolia joins Global Consensus on Sustainable Livestock www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On February 24, a signing ceremony of Mongolia to join the Global Consensus on Sustainable Livestock, which was initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Saudi Aramco may be worth a fifth of estimated value www.rt.com

The world's most valuable company, oil monopoly Saudi Aramco, could be worth just $400 billion, or 80 percent less than the $2 trillion estimated by Riyadh, according to analysts at Wood-Mackenzie.
Read more
A worker operates the drill at the Rosneft oil company © Sergei KarpukhinRussia overtakes Saudi Arabia as world's top crude producer
Ahead of the initial public offering (IPO), Saudi Aramco’s value is no more than a guess. The company has stuck to its claim that it has 261 billion barrels of proven reserves, enough for decades to come, and has never publicly released financial statements.

Mobile World Congress: Nokia launches three new smartphones www.chinadaily.com

HMD Global, the authorized manufacturer of Nokia brand, unveiled a new generation of Nokia smartphones on Sunday, marking the global launch of the brand's first android phones in the market.

Changes to U.S. coal mining royalties blocked www.mining.com

The Trump administration has made another pro-coal decision, this time relating to how Washington calculates royalties on coal mined from federal and Indian lands.

Glencore sees zinc, nickel, copper price rally continuing www.mining.com

Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) produced some stellar results on Thursday and the Switzerland-based company also provided a positive outlook for 2017, particularly for its base metals business.

Glencore is the world's number four copper producer and top 3 zinc supplier and its clout on base metals markets is only amplified by its trading arm.

Last year Glencore's metals and minerals division recorded revenues of $66.3 billion with 'marketing activities' contributing $42.1 billion of the total.

The Baar-HQed company's 'industrial activities' revenue jumped 25% last year thanks to better fundamentals and rising metal prices which it expects to continue in 2017.

Here are some highlights from Glencore's outlook:

Copper
Near-term demand prospects appear positive. A political transition year in China should ensure continued positive fundamentals while the actual and looming infrastructure programs in Japan and North America should start to lend support to non-Chinese consuming regions.
Supply-side fundamentals also improved markedly during the year. Despite some scaremongering, the “wall of supply” failed to emerge.
The stresses induced by 18 months of low pricing and related actions to enhance cash flows are only just starting to manifest themselves
New supply growth from Peru was almost fully offset by production decreases in Chile and elsewhere, and continued shutdowns in the African copper belt. Indeed, the copper market appears to be reverting to form, with an unusually low volume of mine disruptions seen in H1 2016, but increasing in the second half of the year.

The stresses induced by 18 months of low pricing and related actions to enhance cash flows are only just starting to manifest themselves.

The prospect of demand growth across Asia, Europe and the US, as well as the likelihood of difficult labour contract negotiations at some of the industry’s major mines over the coming year, suggest that pricing risks lie to the upside in 2017.

Nickel
We estimate global stainless production in 2016 at over 45 million tonnes, up over 7% on the prior year, including over 24 million tonnes from China. Globally 300S austenitic production totalled over 25 million tonnes which is a 10% increase versus 2015.

Developments in non-stainless remain mixed, with special steel producers reporting challenging conditions primarily due to continued oil and gas weakness, whilst demand from the critical alloys industry and battery sector remains robust.
Overall we estimate primary nickel demand in 2016 of 2.05 million tonnes, representing an ~8% increase versus 2015.

Whilst inventories remain elevated, the outlook is for continued deficits and further draws in primary nickel inventories as demand remains strong
Nickel supply continued to fall in 2016 with further shutdowns (BCL, Tati, Votorantim, Mirabella), and lower nickel unit exports (in ore) from the Philippines all driving a fall in projected nickel output to approximately 1.95 million tonnes of nickel, down 2% versus 2015.

Consequently the market entered its first material deficit since 2010 enabling global inventories to fall by around 100,000 tonnes. Whilst inventories remain elevated, the outlook is for continued deficits and further draws in primary nickel inventories as demand remains strong. Supply increases relate to Indonesia exporting more nickel units in nickel pig iron, with production elsewhere continuing to flat-line or even fall.

Zinc and Lead
The widely anticipated zinc mining output reduction materialised and resulted in significantly tighter physical market conditions, particularly for zinc concentrate. Confirmation of decreasing supply, in combination with better than anticipated demand conditions driven by the recovery of the Chinese real estate and global automotive market, has resulted in destocking of both zinc concentrates and metal during the year and a higher corresponding LME price.
The widely anticipated zinc mining output reduction materialised and resulted in significantly tighter physical market conditions, particularly for zinc concentrate
2016 Chinese zinc mine production was similar to 2015, despite the incentive of a higher SHFE zinc metal price, and a reduction in zinc mine production from the rest of the world (“ROW”) of around 900kmtu (10.8%). Consequently, realised Benchmark TCs reduced by $32/dmt ($243 to $211) while average spot TCs were down by $99/dmt ($201 to $102).

The tightness in zinc concentrates is yet to impact Chinese zinc metal production, even though Chinese concentrate imports were down by 640kmtu and domestic mine production was flat year-over-year. Chinese smelters reported similar production as in 2015, which is attributed to destocking of concentrates stock built up in prior years. ROW zinc metal production was down by 244kmtu compared to prior year.

ROW zinc metal continues to be shipped to China, following the trend of the last few years. Metal imports into China were stable year on year, causing further inventory drawdowns from LME exchanges (stocks down from 463kt to 428kt), while SHFE (199kt to 153kt) and Shanghai Metal Market stocks have also been drawn to cover the needs of the Chinese physical market. Published non-exchange stocks in China have also reduced by a further 50-80kt. Real estate and infrastructure end markets in China are performing better than expected, supported by Chinese government actions in H1 2016, while the automotive market continues to show strong growth both in China and ROW.

The lead supply side trend is similar, given that it is generally a by-product of zinc. Lead benchmark TCs were down by $22.50/dmt ($170 versus $192.50), while spot was down by $60/dmt ($117 versus $177) compared to 2015 averages. Chinese lead concentrates imports were also down by 24% year over year.

Going forward, we expect tight zinc concentrates supply to translate into lower metal production in 2017, which should cause further inventory drawdowns and provide support to the metal price.

Traders drain pricey U.S. oil storage as OPEC deal bites www.reuters.com

Erdene Closes Oversubscribed $13.8 Million Bought Deal Financing www.erdene.com

Halifax, Nova Scotia – February 23, 2017 – Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD)
("Erdene" or "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced bought deal
financing for gross proceeds to the Company of C$13.8 million (the “Offering”). The Offering was led
by Paradigm Capital Inc., with a syndicate including Canaccord Genuity Corp. (collectively, the
“Underwriters”).
The Company issued an aggregate of 17,922,077 common shares (“Shares”) at a price of C$0.77 per
Share, including the full exercise of the Underwriters’ 15% over-allotment option. The Offering was
oversubscribed with participation from multiple institutional investors from Canada and abroad.
In consideration for their services, the Underwriters received a cash commission of $828,000
representing 6% of the gross proceeds of the Offering and 1,075,324 compensation warrants (the
“Compensation Warrants”) representing 6% of the Shares issued pursuant to the Offering. Each
Compensation Warrant is exercisable for a period of 24 months from closing and entitles the holder to
purchase one Share for $1.20 per share.
All Shares issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period expiring June
24, 2017. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to advance its 100%-owned,
high-grade Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar Gold Projects, and to further explore and develop the
Company's other gold properties in southwest Mongolia, as well as for working capital and general
corporate purposes. An approximate 20,000 metre drill program at Bayan Khundii is expected to
commence in April 2017.
“We are extremely pleased with the strong interest shown in the financing which was significantly
oversubscribed. It is our pleasure to welcome these high caliber shareholders into Erdene”, said Peter
Akerley, Erdene’s President and CEO. “We now have the financial capacity to significantly advance our
promising gold projects in southwest Mongolia.”
The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S Securities Act”), or any state securities laws, and
accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or
pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation
to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.