SANTIAGO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Output at BHP Billiton PLC's Escondida mine in Chile, the largest copper mine in the world, fell 7.8 percent in 2017 compared to the prior year due to a prolonged strike, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.The decline to 903,000 tonnes came despite the start of operations at a new wing.BHP said production in the second half of the year grew 29 percent to 583,...Read More
OSLO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Some of Europe's richest deposits of valuable materials are in the trash, ranging from gold in smartphones to cobalt in electric car batteries, according to a survey of urban mining published on Wednesday.Scrap vehicles, batteries, computers, fridges and other electronic and electrical waste total about 18 million tonnes a year and contain materials worth billions of dolla...Read More
SANTIAGO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chile's state copper commission, Cochilco, on Wednesday raised its estimated 2018 average price for the metal to $3.06 per pound from its previous forecast of $2.95 per pound, pointing to the potential for global supply disruptions in the coming year.Cochilco Vice President Sergio Hernandez cited a "perception of vulnerability" that he attributed to the large number of...Read More
Investing in high quality companies can bring you gains in any segment of the market cycle. But, when you're buying a high quality company at the bottom of a commodity cycle, the result can be truly spectacular.When I bought the best junior gold companies in 2014 and 2015, near the bottom of the last bear cycle, it turned out to be a fantastic contrarian decision, giving me incredible gains in 201...Read More
Shares in Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) retreated slightly in after hours trade on Tuesday after the company announced full year production that came in at the lower end of production guidance.Barrick, the world's top producer of gold, is up 5% since the start of the year in line with a stronger gold price which set fresh 4-month highs around $1,340 an ounce on Tuesday. The Toronto-...Read More
After a robust rally, metals prices are starting to pull back.Copper, aluminum, zinc, lead and nickel retreated on Tuesday as investors focused on the rebounding dollar and evidence of ample supply in the physical market. Palladium and other precious metals also retreated, with spot silver falling as much as 3.2 percent."We've had a significant rally across base metals, and it's hard to justify a...Read More
Shares in Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill (TSX, NYSE:TRQ) were hit Tuesday after the miner revealed its massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia has been handed a $155 million tax bill.The Vancouver-based company said the amount relates to an audit on taxes imposed and paid by the mine operator between 2013 and 2015.Amount relates to an audit on taxes imposed and paid by the...Read More
Following the 2016 launching of the Collective Action Initiative for the Metals Technology Industry, the program announced today that it has added Techint Group's Tenova S.p.A. as a new member.Tenova is a mechanical engineering company for the steel and non-ferrous metals processing industry headquartered in Castellanza, Italy. The other three members of the initiative, Danieli & C Officine Meccan...Read More
Dutch journalist Bram Ebus has just published an entire website dedicated to Venezuela's Mining Arc, a mega project that is at the centre of a national controversy given the devastation to both the natural environment and local communities that it is causing, as well as the innumerable allegations of rampant corruption surrounding it.Ebus spent three months investigating the many different aspects...Read More
Jan 16 (Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto, on Tuesday reported a 1 percent rise in iron ore shipments for 2017 to 330.1 million tonnes, meeting its guidance.The world's no. 2 miner of iron ore, a raw material in steelmaking, also stuck to a target of 330-340 million tonnes for this year, but cautioned the guidance was subject to weather constraints and partly reflected rail maintenance required in...Read More
(Bloomberg) - Copper jumped by the most in two months and zinc hit a fresh decade-high as base metals rallied on a potent combination of a softer dollar, dwindling inventories and continued robust outlook for demand. Palladium rallied to a new record as all precious metals climbed.Copper surged as much as 2.1 percent, the most since Nov. 13, to $7,262 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. Al...Read More
(Bloomberg) - Glencore Plc reduced the role of its billionaire head of copper, Aristotelis Mistakidis, shaking up the business after a review in the Democratic Republic of Congo raised questions about accounting and management.Mistakidis, one of Glencore's largest shareholders and a key lieutenant of Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg for more than a decade, will lose control of industrial...Read More
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Acacia Mining said on Monday said fourth-quarter production fell by a third on the previous year due to a ban on exports of gold and copper concentrates in Tanzania.The London-listed miner said production in the three months to December fell 30 percent to 148,477 ounces compared with a year ago and 22 percent from the previous quarter. This brought 2017 gold to 767...Read More
The rebound in the precious metals sector continues. Friday, Gold pushed to another new high, near $1340/oz. Gold stocks led by the HUI Gold Bugs Index and GDX also made a new high with juniors and Silver right behind. The greatest traders say the move comes first and then the reason later. When it comes to Gold we are always analyzing the reason behind the moves so we can distinguish between reac...Read More
Mike discusses the copper market. It is a massive market with 20 millions of tons production per annum which is ten times larger than nickel. In this series, we've worked from the niche battery metals all the way to the largest which is "big copper".Copper is particularly interesting as Electric Vehicles represent a new area of incremental demand. The average E.V. requires 80kg more copper than a...Read More
An earthquake in Peru on Sunday has claimed two lives and caused an illegal mine to collapse.The epicentre of the magnitude 7.1 quake was in the southern region of Arequipa, offshore from the town of Lomas, at a depth of around 36 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.Governor Yamila Osoria tweeted that the earthquake caused damage to buildings, including adobe houses, and caused roads to coll...Read More
Image: GlencoreZinc hit fresh highs above $3,400 a tonne on Friday, the best level since August 2007 as supply worries intensify and the base metal complex finds support from a robust outlook for global growth."From the macro point of view, this is not an environment where you'd want to be shorting metals," Michael Widmer, head of metals research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told Bloomberg Ne...Read More
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationaheadoftheherd.comIn the 1800's the United States under President James Monroe invoked the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that any effort by European nations to control any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "an unfriendly disposition towards the United States."The intent of the Mon...Read More
Indonesian authorities inked Friday a deal with state-owned holding Asahan Aluminum, or Inalum, which sets a framework for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to transfer control of its massive Grasberg copper and gold mine as agreed last year.The country and the Phoenix, Arizona-based miner had arranged in principle in August that up to a 51% stake in Freeport's local unit, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI),...Read More
The stock markets have rocketed higher since Trump's election win on hopes for big corporate tax cuts. This extreme rally has left stocks exceedingly overvalued and overbought today. A major selloff is long overdue and likely imminent. When stocks inevitably roll over and mean revert lower to rebalance away euphoric sentiment, gold is the main beneficiary. Gold investment demand soars when...Read More