The two groups, whose reckless lending helped trigger a
crisis that forced Ireland into an EU-IMF bailout, have had
their boards overhauled, their deposits sold off and are being
wound down over the next 10 years.”I strongly believe that, in addition to meeting practical
requirements for the merged organisation, this name change is of
symbolic importance to all of us as we move on from the past,”
Chief Executive Mike Aynsley said in a statement.”The cost to the Irish taxpayer caused by the disastrous
lending practices and poor stewardship of Anglo Irish Bank and
INBS will not be forgotten or forgiven.”
Talas Copper Gold, a joint venture between Gold Fields and
Britain’s Orsu Metals , said it would postpone a
drilling programme due to begin next month until Kyrgyzstan was
able to guarantee the safety of local residents.A mob on horseback armed with sticks and petrol bombs
attacked the company’s exploration camp in the early hours of
Oct. 8, setting fire to buildings and severely beating the
security manager as he fled.The attack is the second on Talas Copper Gold’s operations
this year and the latest in a series of assaults on mining
company officials in Kyrgyzstan, which have heightened investor
concerns as the country prepares to elect its next president.Although the company had originally planned to continue its
November drilling plan , subsequent death threats
prompted the local government to sign a protocol demanding the
temporary halt of all activity, said David Grant, chairman of
the management board at Talas Copper Gold.”Given this new situation, we decided … to suspend all
plans for drilling until the state is able to guarantee the
safety of the good citizens of Aral,” Grant said, referring to
the village near the company’s licence areas in Talas province.”This effectively means that drilling is suspended at least
until the criminal gang and their organisers are imprisoned.”Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of 5.5 million people,
holds an election on Oct. 30 that is widely seen as the final
stage of constitutional reforms set in motion after the
overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010.Rejecting nearly two decades of failed authoritarian rule,
the country is attempting to create the first parliamentary
democracy in Central Asia, a mineral-rich and strategic region
otherwise governed by presidential strongmen.The pro-business coalition government led by Prime Minister
Almazbek Atambayev, now running for the presidency, has promised
to weed out corruption in the mining sector to secure the
proceeds from many untapped metal deposits, but progress has
been slow.Talas Copper Gold has four exploration licences in Talas
province in northwestern Kyrgyzstan, prospective in copper, gold
and molybdenum. It has invested $15 million between 2005 and
2010, and planned a further $2.5 million spend this year.
* Expects steel buyers to restock in Q1 2012PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - European steel prices will be flat
in fourth quarter this year and likely rise in the first quarter
next year, if the economic situation doesn’t worsen, as buyers
will need to replenish inventories, German steelmaker Salzgitter
CEO said on Wednesday.”I think steel prices will be stable,” Heinz Jorg Fuhrmann
told a news briefing. “I don’t see any further decline in the
fourth quarter while in the first quarter next year, if there is
no double-dip recession prices will rise.”Salzgitter is still producing crude steel at full
capacity of about 6 million tonnes but will curb steel strip
production by about 180,000 tonnes in the second half this year,
compared with what it previously planned.The steelmaker produced about 3 million tonnes of steel
strip in 2010 and was planning to raise production to about 3.2
million tonnes this year, but given a weaker economic situation
the planned increase will not take place, it said.”We are not cutting liquid steel production just yet but we
are constantly monitoring the production situation,” Fuhrmann
said.Carmakers and other major customers had not signalled any
slow down in demand but many traders and other buyers were more
cautious and trying to keep inventories low, especially before
the end of the year, the company said.”People start to lower their inventories for accounting
reasons but inventories remain very low if and the economy
doesn’t collapse they will have to restock in the first quarter
next year,” said Bernhard Kleinermann, Salzgitter head of
corporate communication and investor relations.Salzgitter is currently selling about 40 percent of its
steel on spot basis, the company said.
Among Japan’s big three automakers, Honda risks losing the
most from the floods. Toyota Motor Corp has been forced
to curtail production because of disruption to its supply of
parts rather than any physical damage, while Nissan
said it may experience some disruption.”Cars at the facility (in Ayutthaya, central Thailand)
appear to be floating,” Honda spokesman Tomohiro Okada said.As no one is allowed into the area, Honda is still unable to
assess the damage to production machinery or give any estimate
of when output, halted since Oct. 4, can restart, he added.”We think resuming production will take some time,” Nomura
analyst Masataka Kunugimoto wrote in a report.If it takes three months, that would mean lost production of
60,000 vehicles and could shave 25 billion yen ($325 million)
off operating profit, he estimated. For the year to March 31,
Honda expects operating profit of 270 billion yen.As Honda’s Thai plant supplies parts to other factories in
the region, the damage may infect its supply chain and hurt
output in other locations unless it can rustle up parts from
elsewhere.”Capacity utilization in Japan is already high to meet
post-earthquake recovery demand, so Honda’s Japanese plants may
not be able to supply sufficient volumes,” Kunugimoto said in
his report.Toyota on Wednesday said it would close its three Thai
plants, which account for around 8 percent of its global
production, until at least Oct. 15 because of a dearth of parts.Nissan officials were unavailable for comment.Other Japanese firms affected by the floods include Nikon
Corp , which was forced to halt production of cameras in
Thailand.Shares of Honda fell 2.2 percent, compared with a 0.4
percent decline in the benchmark Nikkei average. Toyota
fell 1.1 percent, Nissan dropped 1.8 percent and Nikon lost 4.5
percent.
