A review of the PGM industry,deposit models and exploration practices: Implications for Australia's PGM potential

Australia is prospective for platinum group metal (PGM) mineralisation (in particular primary magmatic reef, primary magmatic by-product, late magmatic and hydrothermal, and alluvial placer type) but its known PGM endowment is negligible compared to that of South Africa, Russia, the USA and Canada. Most Australian PGM projects are operated by mid-cap or junior companies and form part of larger, more diverse project portfolios held by these explorers. Most projects were ‘hot’ while market conditions were favourable. However, as other metals became ‘fashionable’ and market conditions for PGM changed, so did the focus of these companies. Pure PGM companies are rare in Australia. The search for and development of PGM-only deposits in Australia are high risk business activities. No new primary PGM deposits have been discovered since the mid to late 1980s and none of the significant deposits that were discovered or evaluated in the 1980s have been mined. This review suggests that at least several A$10 million but more likely several A$100 million were sunk into PGM exploration and development projects but none advanced to the mining stage. The viability of Australian PGM projects is very sensitive to (1) metal prices, (2) the US$/A$ exchange rate, and (3) large capital expenditure requirements relative to the small size of Australian PGM-only deposits. Most PGM-only projects were initiated at times of high PGM prices. However, advanced exploration, feasibility studies and project development always lagged behind the price booms. South Africa, Russia and Canada contain approximately 98% of the known global PGM reserves. This situation has a very negative effect on the Australian PGM industry as the well-endowed nations continue to receive the lion's share of exploration spend and new projects.     

Development of Australia's North-West shelf gas reserves

The development of Australia's North-West Shelf gasfield is the largest single private venture yet undertaken in Australia, with expenditure of around A$3000 million. Gas will be exported (primarily to Japan), and there will be local sales, at present confined to the state of Western Australia. Annual revenue is estimated to be A$743 million (in 1977 prices) over the life of the project, with annual tax and royalties rising to A$330 million once loans are repaid. The net effect on Australia's balance of payments is positive in most years. The project's apparent feasibility has provided an impetus to further offshore exploration in the West, with A$400 million now committed.     

ESG表现、财务状况与系统性风险相关性研究——以沪深A股电力上市公司为例

环境、社会及公司治理(ESG)数据有助于认识我国企业的环保行为,同时也有助于深化对近年来企业经济行为的理解。本文立足于坚持绿色发展的现实背景,实证研究了财务状况、系统性风险对我国电力上市公司ESG表现的影响。研究发现:由于投资者与企业管理者对社会责任的忽视,电力企业系统性风险无法影响其ESG表现。研究还发现,较好的偿债能力、盈利能力和合理的资本结构可以促进公司ESG表现,但良好的营运能力会使公司忽视可持续发展的重要性。本文将系统性风险与电力行业ESG研究相结合,为未来的扩展研究提供了新的角度,并就加强信息披露监督、继续深化绿色市场发展提出了建议。     

Opportunity cost based analysis of corporate eco-efficiency: A methodology and its application to the CO2-efficiency of German companies

In this paper, we propose the return-to-cost-ratio (RCR) as an alternative approach to the analysis of operational eco-efficiency of companies based on the notion of opportunity costs. RCR helps to overcome two fundamental deficits of existing approaches to eco-efficiency. (1) It translates eco-efficiency into managerial terms by applying the well-established notion of opportunity costs to eco-efficiency analysis. (2) RCR allows to identify and quantify the drivers behind changes in corporate eco-efficiency. RCR is applied to the analysis of the CO₂-efficiency of German companies in order to illustrate its usefulness for a detailed analysis of changes in corporate eco-efficiency as well as for the development of effective environmental strategies.     

Mining investment in Africa

Since 1985, there has been rapid growth in the presence of Australian exploration and mining companies in Africa. This paper sets out the reasons for the interest of those companies, now 20 in number, in various African mineral opportunities. Australian companies spent about US$16 million in 1992 on African exploration and evaluation, with over US$130 million spent on new mine development or expansion. The 20 Australian companies operate in 16 African countries, with two areas of focus, West Africa and Southern Africa. Using the responses to a survey sent to Australian companies operating in Africa in 1991, and to companies known to be interested in prospects there, the paper identifies and categorizes the policy and regulatory requirements needed by investors. Although a gloomy picture has often been painted of investment in Africa, Australian companies recognize that their risk taking, in the light of a declining investment climate in other mining areas, could promote a renaissance of world-scale mining in Africa.     

Improving corporate environmental performance through economic value added

These days, corporate annual reports are full of references to shareholder wealth creation. In today's highly competitive capital markets, most chief executives understand that unless they are seen as value creators, investors will place their scarce capital somewhere else. Clear evidence of the growing importance, even dominance, of shareholder wealth creation is the growing use of a performance measure known as economic value added (EVA®).¹ Within ten years, it is almost certain that most large, publicly traded companies in the United States will be using EVA or something like it as a primary performance evaluation tool. Recently, many non-American companies have also adopted it to better align the incentives of managers with shareholders and to signal their commitment to value creation. EVA is not widely known or understood among environmental specialists, and those who have heard about it often fear it. We find this attitude unfortunate. In this article, we discuss EVA and how its use can aid corporate environmental managers in promoting more proactive environmental investments, and in funding capital investments on environmental improvement, waste reduction, and pollution control in their companies. The use of EVA and other shareholder value measures can also improve general capital investment decisions by integrating environmental factors that affect the long-term interests of the corporation into the managerial decision-making process.     

Statistical considerations of progressive value and risk in mineral exploration

Financial markets recognise maximisation of expected value (E), in an essentially risk-neutral context, as the main corporate financial objective of private enterprise. This may be valid for large, integrated mining companies. Yet, most junior and middle-size exploration companies behave in a risk-averse fashion when making decisions about progressively more expensive exploration programs. From their perspective, a potential increase in expected value from either an increase in target value or related probability of discovery, or both, may not be a sufficient incentive to embark in an exploration programme if the resultant increase in expected value is accompanied by a significant increase in possible maximum loss. Risk-averse explorers may be unwilling to bear larger, albeit less probable losses, when the cost of successive exploration programmes is taken into account. The paper provides a practical methodology for such explorers to optimise the decision whether to progress to the next stage of exploration or to farm out a risky project. It uses a decision-tree model incorporating the effectiveness of the proposed exploration programme, the explorer's risk tolerance and related utility values and the probability distribution of the possible value of the exploration target.     

Economic use value of the Belize marine ecosystem: Potential risks and benefits from offshore oil exploration

The announcement of plans for exploratory oil drilling at a number of offshore sites in Belize raised concerns about the risks associated with drilling, particularly given the socio‐economic importance of the marine ecosystem. The current economic value of fisheries and marine ecotourism is estimated, along with the potential revenue from offshore oil and potential economic losses stemming from oil pollution, under various assumptions on risk and uncertainty. Marine fisheries and ecotourism are estimated to generate around US$ 183 million per year. Single‐year estimated maximum revenue is higher for oil extraction initially but quickly declines; during a 50 year (two generation) period, total discounted benefits from marine fisheries and ecotourism are estimated at US$ 5.1 billion, compared to US$ 3.2 billion from offshore oil revenue. Following a hypothetical oil spill, discounted losses in marine fisheries and ecotourism due to perception and ecological impacts are estimated at US$ 912 million, with clean‐up costs and capital losses of US$ 6.1‐10.4 billion. Considering the short extraction life of oil resources compared to fisheries and ecotourism, the difference in benefits increases substantially in favour of the latter with a longer time horizon. A recent public referendum resulted in a 98% vote against oil exploration and a subsequent annulment of oil concessions pending environmental impact assessments.     

Energy wealth and tax reform in Russia and Kazakhstan

Resource-rich states throughout the developing world are prone to rent-seeking, excessive borrowing, wasteful spending, and unbalanced growth as well as states with weak institutions and authoritarian regimes. Are the five energy-rich Soviet successor states necessarily doomed to repeat this experience, often referred to as the “resource curse”? This paper advances and tests the hypothesis that Russia and Kazakhstan are more likely to avoid the “resource curse” than Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan because they privatized their energy sectors. Specifically, we find that privatization offers a potential path out of the “resource curse” when it involves a transfer of ownership to domestic actors. Although Kazakhstan initially appeared to be developing a viable tax regime in response to foreign investors, over the long term Kazakhstan’s tax regime has become increasingly volatile and dependent upon these foreign investors. In contrast, domestic oil companies are helping to foster the development of an increasingly viable tax regime in Russia.     

The impact of commodity price risk management on the profits of a company

It is well recognized that for the producing companies hedging the commodity price using financial products like forwards or futures has become an important part of the company's production process. But apart from the direct impacts of hedging on the production and hedging costs the use of financial products affects the financing of the company: hedging the volatile commodity prices leads to a reduction of the risk premium the company has to pay for its debt capital, since hedging contributes to more confidence of the investors in the redemption of the debt. In this paper we therefore analyze this dependency of hedging and financing and derive optimal hedging extents for companies in different market situations based on a long-term model. By hedging the commodity price, companies can realize a surplus in profits. Thereby, the optimal hedging extent for a monopolist is often up to 100%, whereas for companies in a polypolistic market the optimum is always less than 100%. These results are illustrated by examples for a producing company.     

Australian gold exploration 1976–2003

The Australian gold industry has grown enormously over the past 25 years. Australian mine production of gold in 2003 was 284 t, similar to that of the USA, and behind South Africa, the world's largest gold-producing nation. Gold is Australia's third largest commodity export, worth an estimated A$5.3 billion in 2003–2004.Underpinning the industry is a solid resource base that has grown by successful exploration over the past three decades. Australia ranks third in the world after South Africa and the USA in terms of its economic gold resources. The growth in Australia's gold resources has been underpinned by high levels of exploration and innovations in gold processing technologies, specifically the development of carbon-based gold extraction methods that allowed commercial treatment of low grade ores. It has been supported by advances in gold exploration methods, especially exploration geochemistry.New resources were added at existing deposits and new deposits were found, including several of world class (>100 t contained gold), in each decade over the 25-year-period but resource growth since the 1990s has been dominated by brownfields additions rather than new discoveries. Average costs of discovery have now plateauxed at around A$20–25/oz, after falling sharply during the early to mid-1990s when a number of new discoveries were made, notably in the Yandal belt in Western Australia and the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. Current gold reserve/production and gold EDR/production ratios are 12 and 19 years, respectively, and indicate that the long-term future of the Australian gold industry depends on continued high levels of exploration and the discovery of new deposits to replace mines that are currently being depleted.     

ESG研究进展及其在“双碳”目标下的新机遇

环境、社会和治理（ESG）是一种由资本市场发展形成的融合多利益相关方诉求的新理念,目的是推动企业提升社会责任和实现可持续发展。推进ESG理念在中国发展,对国家扩大对外开放、增强企业国际竞争力以及实现“双碳”目标具有重大意义。本研究通过综述2019年3月—2022年3月以来国内外以ESG为主题的文献,分析ESG实践特点和发展新动向。研究发现,ESG三要素在金融投资、企业或银行财务表现、企业价值、企业社会责任绩效以及可持续发展能力方面会产生多样化影响。本文建立了一个包含ESG多利益相关方、第三方机构以及ESG代表性指南政策法规的运行体系框架,形象化地凝练了ESG的内涵和实践重点;结合理论研究,运用驱动力、压力、状态影响及响应（DPSIR）分析框架揭示了ESG理念在我国“双碳”目标下的发展方向。最后,建议从三方面推进ESG理念：以工业园区为载体推动企业整体性开展ESG实践创新;推进A股企业扩大ESG实践示范试点,引领中小企业整体提升;引导投资者积极参与ESG投资,推进企业提升现代化环境治理能力。     

全球视角下的企业ESG绩效驱动因素解析

企业是践行可持续理念、实现可持续发展目标的重要主体。企业需要在生产经营过程中统筹提升环境（E）、社会（S）、治理（G）三个维度的ESG绩效。基于外部压力和内部实力,本文预先设定了国家背景、行业属性、金融实力三种因素驱动企业改善ESG绩效的理论假设。为检验假设,本文使用多元线性回归和多层线性模型对来自55个国家、共计6139家上市公司样本进行实证研究。结果表明,即使在控制企业规模、风险管理和社会声誉的情况下,国家可持续发展水平、行业绿色发展水平、企业金融实力仍能显著提升企业ESG绩效。其中,国家和行业变量不仅直接促进了企业ESG绩效的提升,还在更高维度上通过调节CFP-ESG的关系间接促进企业ESG绩效的提升。本研究有助于企业更好地制定实施可持续发展战略,也能为投资者评估并筛选出ESG绩效优异的企业提供科学参考。     

Municipal solid waste management in China: Status,problems and challenges

This paper presents an examination of MSW generation and composition in China, providing an overview of the current state of MSW management, an analysis of existing problems in MSW collection, separation, recycling and disposal, and some suggestions for improving MSW systems in the future. In China, along with urbanization, population growth and industrialization, the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has been increasing rapidly. The total MSW amount increased from 31.3 million tonnes in 1980 to 212 million tonnes in 2006, and the waste generation rate increased from 0.50 kg/capita/day in 1980 to 0.98 kg/capita/year in 2006. Currently, waste composition in China is dominated by a high organic and moisture content, since the concentration of kitchen waste in urban solid waste makes up the highest proportion (at approximately 60%) of the waste stream. The total amount of MSW collected and transported was 148 million tonnes in 2006, of which 91.4% was landfilled, 6.4% was incinerated and 2.2% was composted. The overall MSW treatment rate in China was approximately 62% in 2007. In 2007, there were 460 facilities, including 366 landfill sites, 17 composing plants, and 66 incineration plants. This paper also considers the challenges faced and opportunities for MSW management in China, and a number of recommendations are made aimed at improving the MSW management system.     

Foreign direct investment and institutional obstacles: The case of Russian forestry

This article examines why, in spite of vast forest resources, Russia has been unable to attract foreign investors into its forest industry. A survey of 32 influential Western European forest companies indicates that purely economic factors, such as labour or raw material costs, are not the main reasons these companies refrain from investing. Instead, the companies identify a number of institutional factors: ambiguous legal systems; difficulties in negotiating with local authorities; unfair tax enforcement; and general political instability as the main impediments to FDI in the sector. These factors have led many companies to abandon previously considered investments in Russia, and also to terminate existing business relationships with Russian partners. The survey results also indicate that, while many investors in forestry were attracted by the potential for a growing Russian market in the early days of the transition period, they have become more and more aware of the many institutional obstacles challenging growth in the sector. The article concludes, therefore, that FDI in the Russian forestry sector is likely to remain low until a fundamental change takes place in the legal and political systems.     

Barriers to investment in third world mineral industries

This article looks at some of the barriers that have distorted the global flow of capital in the mining industry. The perceived threat of nationalization is discussed and Chile's expropriation of US copper mining companies in 1971 is examined. Political instability, leading not only expropriation but to loss of title, altered tax laws, and voided contracts, is also cited as a factor affecting investor confidence. Finally, inadequate infrastructure is regarded as a further barrier to development of Third World mineral industries.     

US uranium deposits: A geostatistical model

The frequency distributions of both grade and size of metal deposits may be well approximated by lognormal distribution functions. Using data on presently viable deposits and a simplified function which links production cost to deposit grade and size, a bivariate lognormal deposit grade/size distribution may be calibrated for a given geological environment. Exploration is introduced by assuming that the proportion discovered of the potential uranium reserve available at or below a given production cost can be represented by a function of the average deposit size and the unit exploration expenditure. As output the model derives estimates of total reserves linked to maximum production costs and to exploration expenditure where the latter may be expressed either as expenditure per lb of mineral discovered or as a given percentage of operating profit. The model is offered as a basis for discussion, and the conclusions are tentative.     

Adding public value: The limits of corporate responsibility

It is suggested that natural resource companies undertaking large-scale projects may be expanding the scope of corporate social responsibility by working to enhance the capabilities of the public sector. Naturally companies are concerned to protect their investments, and to ensure their viability. They will therefore invest in necessary infrastructure and facilities of all types, where those are lacking. Such investment often provides benefits to the wider community, but with a few exceptions these are normally incidental byproducts rather than inherent objectives. The motivation for companies to provide resources of all types in order to enhance the capabilities of the public sector to provide public services is usually an expectation is that the tangible benefits will exceed the costs, rather than altruism. One driving force is to secure and maintain a company's social licence to operate. More recently competition from Chinese firms is prompting private sector companies to offer comparable investments in infrastructure. It is unclear whether investment in public sector capabilities is cyclical and liable to cutbacks when market conditions deteriorate. Changing market conditions affect not just corporate willingness to spend but also host countries’ bargaining strengths. In boom periods host countries will be more able to secure straightforward financial benefits through higher tax receipts than when markets are weak. Beyond the specific needs of individual projects corporate policies are strongly influenced by the beliefs of senior managers. External pressures both from international institutions and from NGOs also drive corporate behaviour. The success of investment in public sector capabilities relies in the end on the responses of host countries, and on how closely the objectives and interests of the government are aligned with maximising the nation's long term wealth and welfare. Where they are not corporate resources may be frittered away. There are also questions over the legitimacy of corporate investments, especially by foreign-owned companies. They have a right to offer advice and protect their legitimate interests, but these may not always coincide with those of their host countries. There is a range of questions about the appropriate role of companies, which lead on to feasible and effective ways of improving weak governance.     

From Iran: Does Improvement in Corporate Environmental Performance Affect Corporate Risk Taking?

Superior corporate environmental performance (CEP) has become essential to the competitive advantage and financial success of businesses. However, the main reasons managers pay attention to environmental performance are improved reputation in the capital market and profitability, as well as reductions in operating costs and risks. This article describes the findings of a study that examines the relationship between CEP, using a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions as a measure, and corporate risk taking. In addition to indicating a significant negative relationship between CEP and firm risk, the study results also show that a 1% improvement of CEP decreases corporate risk by 3%.     

Investing in fertilizer–mining companies in times of food scarcity

The primary goal of the paper is to show the validity of investing capital in fertilizer–mining companies, both from a market return perspective for individual or institutional investors, or from a hedging standpoint for insurance companies and other economic actors exposed to inflation risk and high agricultural commodity prices. After providing some elements on the fertilizer market and describing the joint dynamics of corn, wheat and fertilizer prices over the last decade, we analyze an exhaustive sample of listed fertilizer producing companies over the years January 2004–December 2012. We show that their shares generated quite good returns over the whole period and extremely high ones during the years January 2004–December 2007, both in absolute terms and compared to their betas. We also exhibit that these returns display higher sensitivities to major agricultural indexes than to the World Bank Fertilizer Index, making the hedging argument quite compelling.