In New York trade on Monday copper for delivery in September suffered another down day as new supply coming on stream coupled with fewer than usual mining disruptions upset the fundamentals for the metal.Copper dipped almost 2% to $2.1270 per pound ($4,690 a tonne), a six week low. While other industrial metals and steelmaking raw materials have jumped in value this year, industry bellwether copp...Read More
Canada's mineral exploration and mining industry is asking Energy and Mines Ministers, currently in Winnipeg for their 73rd annual conference, to work on tackling several challenges that have resulted in Canada dropping to second place behind Australia as the most desirable mining destination in the world.Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) President Bob Schafer said that as the...Read More
Stephen Nano, CEO of Mirasol Resources sits down with Maurice Jackson of Proven & Probable (http://www.provenandprobable.com/) to discuss the virtues of Prospect Generation, the most recent press release regarding the Claudia Gold-Silver Project' ., and some of the unique features that makes Mirasol Resources one of the hand-picked exhibitors for the Sprott Natural Resource Symposium in Vancouve...Read More
Scott Close of Eurasian Minerals sits down with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable to discuss the virtues of partnering and owning shares in one of the industry's premier Prospect Generators. Specifically, Mr. Close outlines the business model for Eurasian Minerals and how they have earned the distinction of being identified as a Royalty Generator. In addition, value investors will learn about...Read More
Moody's Investors Service has injected some fresh optimism into the global mining industry by changing its outlook for base metals to stable from negative, which basically means it believes prices for aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc have already bottomed out."We view prices for base metals as having likely bottomed following the sharp decline beginning late last year, and consequently we have re...Read More
Credit ratings agency Moody's warned at the beginning of the year that the current downturn in raw materials was like no other and that defaults among mining and metals companies could reach levels last seen during the height of the financial crisis.As a result, Moody's embarked on a sector-wide review of the 87 global mining majors that it covers. The review started off with a bang in January whe...Read More
Signs of resurgence in platinum, a stronger gold price and growing coal exports to India should be triggers for South Africa's mining leadership to grasp the opportunities that it missed in the last commodity boom, according to consulting engineers and scientists SRK Consulting (South Africa)."It is time for the mining sector to get some traction from the National Development Plan, Mining Operatio...Read More
Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, has began shipping lithium to China in what is considered the first step towards fulfilling its ambitions to becoming the world's No. 1 exporter of the commodity, used in high tech devices such as smart phones and electric cars, as well as in the pharmaceutical industry.With a price tag of barely $70,000, Bolivia's lithium shipment to China...Read More
China is the leader in extracting gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, coal, tin, tungsten, rare earths, graphite, vanadium, antimony and phosphate, and holds second place in mine production of copper, silver, cobalt, bauxite and manganese.A new report from BMI Research shows the country's domestic mining output growth has slowed dramatically and will average far below levels attained in the last decade...Read More
London HQ'ed Capital Economics, an independent research and consulting firm, has launched a new publication tracking China's industrial metals demand. In the grand tradition of the economics discipline, the July report has some good news and bad news.Parts of industry key to metals demand continued to strengthen last monthCapital Economics says industrial production data from China for the mo...Read More
South Africa's Harmony Gold (JSE:HAR) (NYSE:HMY) is said to be considering the acquisition of Barrick Gold's stake in Acacia Mining (LON:ACA), as the miner looks to expand operations across Africa.Reporting annual results for the year ended in June, Harmony - the world's fifth-largest gold producer and South Africa No. 3 miner of the precious metal - revealed Wednesday that it was on a hunt for ac...Read More
With mining company BHP Billiton reporting a record loss for the past year, you could be forgiven for thinking it was all doom and gloom for the sector. But all is not as it seems.In fact, data from the FTSE 100 shows quite the opposite. The seven mining companies account for close to 5.5% of the value of the index."At the end of 2015 they accounted for around 2.5%, so they've more than doubled in...Read More
Zinc is the best performing base metal so far this year and measured from its multi-year low struck mid-January the zinc prize is up 54%.Zinc's prospects brightened considerably after the shutdown of two major mines last year - Australia's Century and the Lisheen mine in Ireland. The two mines had a combined output of more than 630,000.Top zinc producer Glencore has been out in front when it comes...Read More
Bolivia has nationalized three Glencore operations in nine years. Bloomberg reports Glencore has announced: "after almost nine years of negotiations without receiving any compensation for the nationalization of three of its operations, Glencore had no other option but to initiate arbitration proceedings to enforce its rights under international law."From a total of four operations in Bolivia, Glen...Read More
An aerial view of the Mount Polley mine tailings pond shows the area where the dam wall gave way early on the morning of August 4. (Image from archives)Two years after a dam containing a small lake of water and mine slurry at the Mount Polley copper mine near Likely, B.C. gave way, the tarnished Golden Triangle environmental and economic fallout continues.The trees in the flood's path weren't the...Read More
World's largest mining company BHP Billiton (ASX, NYSE:BHP) (LON:BLT) poured some very cold water on the resources sector Tuesday by posting its worst-ever annual loss, just when the industry was gaining some confidence back as commodity prices have recovered from multi-year lows.The Melbourne, Australia-based firm logged a net loss of $6.4 billion for the year to June, compared with a 2015 net pr...Read More
Metso has won a significant deal to support the conversion of the largest open-pit copper mine in the world to a large-scale underground mining operation. The Chuquicamata mine, located 1,650 kilometres north of Santiago, Chile, is owned and operated by Chile's National Copper Corporation, Codelco. Metso's scope in the contract includes the engineering, supply of equipment and materials, and site...Read More
Chile's Codelco, the world's top copper miner, may soon change its focus from cost reductions to output cuts, as the state-owned miner faces what its chief executive called the "worst crisis ever" since created in 1976.Announcing fresh cost-cutting measures to save $242 million this year, CEO Nelson Pizarro said last week (in Spanish) that slumping copper prices, high debt, rising costs and lower...Read More
The world's number five diversified mining company, Anglo American announced a "radical portfolio restructuring" at the end of last year. The company with roots going back more than a hundred years to South Africa's gold and diamond fields said it would cut around 85,000 employees, almost two-thirds of its workforce.London-listed Anglo also said it's reducing the number of mines it operates from 5...Read More
Canadian junior Strongbow Exploration Inc (CVE:SBW) last month closed the acquisition of the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall and local media reports operations could restart within two years.South Crofty, approximately 390km drive west of London on the Celtic Sea Coast, was the last tin mine in Europe when it closed in 1998. Several companies attempted to revive the mines between 2001 and 20...Read More