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Iran accepts Chinese renminbi for crude oil
By Henny Sender
Financial Times, London
Monday, May 7, 2012
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/63132838-732d-11e1-9014-00144feab49a.html
Iran is accepting renminbi for some of the crude oil it supplies to China, industry executives in Beijing and Kuwait and Dubai-based bankers said, partly as a consequence of US sanctions aimed at limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Tehran is spending the currency, which is not freely convertible, on goods and services imported from China.
Most of the oil that goes from Iran to China is handled by the Unipec trading arm of Sinopec, China's second-largest oil company, and through another trading company called Zhuhai Zhenrong, the oil industry executives said.
... Dispatch continues below ...
Sona Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization
at Blackdome in British Columbia -- 13.6g over 1.5 Meters
From a Company Press Release
November 22, 2011
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling.
"We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company."
Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered.
For the company's complete press release, please visit:
http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf
The trade is worth as much as $20 billion to $30 billion annually, according to industry estimates, but a share of it is in barter form. Zhuhai Zhenrong, for example, pays Iran for its oil by providing services such as drilling, these people add.
"The global financial crisis accelerated the shift from the west to the east," said the chief executive of one bank in Dubai. Measures such as the US sanctions against Iran "will now enhance the acceptability of the renminbi as a transaction currency."
The US applied sanctions on Zhuhai Zhenrong earlier this year for allegedly brokering gasoline shipments to Iran -- which lacks refining capacity -- a charge that the company has denied.
Washington has also imposed sanctions that force financial institutions to choose between doing business with Iran or with the US and it has spearheaded restrictions on Tehran's central bank. The sanctions and a diplomatic push have led to a reduction in Iranian oil imports by Japan, South Korea, India, and China, which together buy more than 60 per cent of Iran's crude oil exports.
India, which already settles its oil purchases from Iran in rupees, was again urged on Monday by Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, to cut its imports further.
The renminbi purchases began some months ago. Initially the non-barter portion of the transactions were settled in Beijing through renminbi accounts but now, as a result of US pressure, domestic banks such as Bank of China have stopped dealing with Iran, the oil executives and bankers said.
Instead, much of the money is transferred to Tehran through Russian banks, which take large commissions on the transactions, these people said.
Beijing has been trying to get its trading partners to use the renminbi, in effect transferring the exchange rate risk to its counterparties, since the price of crude is set in US dollars. It also frees Beijing of the need to hold as many dollars in its reserves.
Iran sells 21 per cent of its crude oil exports to China, making Beijing crucial to Tehran's ability to withstand unilateral US sanctions.
In March, amid growing efforts to isolate Iran, Sinopec renegotiated its contracts and successfully pressed for larger discounts, though "both sides are under strict orders not to talk and nobody knows the exact terms," one industry source said. There was a sharp drop in Chinese oil imports from Iran in January and February but analysts expect a recovery over the course of the year.
Sinopec, Zhuhai Zhenrong and Iran's central bank declined to comment on the renminbi for oil trading.
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Prophecy Platinum (TSXV: NKL) and Ursa Major Minerals
Sign Combination Agreement
Company Press Release
Friday, March 2, 2012
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) and Ursa Major Minerals Inc. have signed a binding letter of agreement for a business combination through a proposed all-share transaction. In doing so Prophecy and Ursa have acted at arm's length and the transaction has been negotiated at arm's length.
Prophecy will issue one common share in exchange for every 25 outstanding common shares of Ursa. Ursa options and warrants will be exchanged for options and warrants of Prophecy on an agreed schedule.
Prophecy's offer represents a value of about $0.15 per each common share of Ursa based on Prophecy's share price of $3.70 as at March 1, representing a premium of 130 percent to Ursa's March 1 closing price of $0.065.
Prophecy is to subscribe for $1 million common shares of Ursa by way of private placement financing at $0.06 per share, subject to regulatory approval. Upon placement completion, John Lee and Greg Hall, current Prophecy directors, will be appointed to Ursa's board.
Prophecy thus will become a mid-tier resource company with a robust and diversified pipeline of platinum nickel projects, including:
-- The fully permitted open-pit Shakespeare PGM-Ni-Cu mine close to Sudbury, Ontario, infrastructure with near-term production capabilities.
-- The flagship Wellgreen (Yukon) PGM-Ni-Cu project with more than 10 million ounces of Pt-Pd-Au inferred resource. Drilling is under way and a preliminary economic assessment study is pending.
-- Manitoba's Lynn Lake Ni-Cu project with more than 262 million pounds Ni and 138 million pounds Cu measured and indicated.
For the complete announcement, please visit Prophecy Platinum's Internet site here:
http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2012_mar02_prophecy_platinum_ursa_major...
