MMX Board Approves Lease, Possible Sale of Corumba Iron Ore Mine
Brazil's MMX said late Wednesday it approved the lease and possible sale of its Corumba, high-grade iron ore unit, part of efforts to raise cash and restructure the troubled mining company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista. The Rio de Janeiro-based company, formally known as MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA, did not name the person or company that has agreed to lease the mining rights of its MMX Corumba unit in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state near the Bolivian border. The plan was approved by the MMX board, the company said in a securities filing. MMX shares rose 0.55 percent in late-morning trading in Sao Paulo Thursday, putting the stock on track for its biggest one-day gain in nearly two weeks.
Dry Weather Hastens Brazil Sugar Output but Hurts Maturing Crop
Brazil's main center-south cane crop produced 2.33 million metric tons of sugar in the first half of June, up from the 2.03 million metric tons in late May as clear weather helped crushing, the main sugar and ethanol lobby Unica said on Wednesday. In its biweekly report on the harvest, Unica said, however, that the lack of rain was at the same time hurting the development of the cane that is due to mature later in the year. "The persistence of the drier climate since the start of harvest ... is severely hurting the development of the plants, intensifying the agricultural losses," Unica's technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues said. (Reporting by Reese Ewing and Fabiola Gomes)
