Together with announcing a major management reshuffle and division reorganization, Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) revived Tuesday rumours of an incoming $9 billion BHP-style spinoff.Soon-to-be Rio's chief executive, Jean-S?(C)bastien Jacques, overhauled the group business divisions, leaving its least loved units - coal, uranium salt, borates and its Iron Ore Co. of Canada - under a new umbrella branded...Read More
Rio Tinto's iron ore will now focus only on the firm's operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Image of the Paraburdoo operation, in the Pilbara, courtesy of Rio Tinto)Ten days before officially assuming as the new chief executive officer of Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO), Jean-S?(C)bastien Jacques has begun making major changes at the top level in an effort to improve the company's balan...Read More
The Australian mining industry is exposing themselves to the unnecessary risk of losing multi-million dollar assets, according to leading legal experts. Despite only taking several minutes online, and costing less than the morning newspaper and cup of coffee, many Australian businesses are failing to protect their legal rights of ownership.The Personal Properties Securities Register (PPSR), a sing...Read More
US-based Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS), the world's largest producer of phosphate fertilizer, is said to be in talks with Vale (NYSE:VALE) to acquire the Brazilian mining giant's fertilizer unit, in a deal worth about $3 billion.According to sources quoted by Reuters, a cash-and-stock deal remains the favourite option at this point, though the parties are also discussing other alternatives.Vale is the big...Read More
In Jamaica there is a special fern that grows specifically around copper showings, there's a solid scientific explanation for this and the correlation is very real. This plays a big part in the field mapping and identification of potential mineralization and trench location.Behold! An outcrop covered in said ferns:What's that smell? Skunk?For those who follow Palisade Research, you know that our p...Read More
A resurgent copper price saw investors returning to the biggest names in mining on Wednesday with the world's top listed producer of the red metal leading the charge.In mid-day New York trade on Wednesday copper for delivery in July jumped 3.8% exchanging hands for $2.1190 a pound ($4,672 a tonne) as it recovers from four-month lows hit last week. Copper is now also back to breakeven for the...Read More
Bayan Khundii project went from greenfield prospect to being Erdene's flagship asset in roughly nine months. (Image courtesy of Erdene Resources)Canada's Erdene Resource (TSX:ERD), one of the very few miners to never have encountered issues in Mongolia, has seen its shares soar in the last few months after the company hit the jackpot with a new multi-ounce gold discovery in the country's southwest...Read More
CLICK HERE FOR MINING.COM'S UPDATED TOP 50 MINING COMPANIES RANKING PwC's latest report into the performance of the world's 40 largest mining companies shows just what a watershed year 2015 was.The management consultants' Mine 2015 report shows the top 40 companies suffering their first collective net loss in history ($27 billion), a decline in collective market capitalization of 37% (to below...Read More
Panama City, June 14, 2016 - The main threat to progress in Latin America and the Caribbean is the relapse of millions of families back into poverty. The economic slowdown is part of the story, but not the only cause of such a setback, says the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report (HDR) for Latin America and the Caribbean, launched with more than 60 congressperson...Read More
Ancient miners lacked modern tools, which means that important amounts of gold, silver and other valuable minerals are very likely to still lie beneath the surface, including a few unknown to them such as platinum and palladium. (Image via Pixabay)Egypt's ancient gold mines are guiding modern miners towards a vast amount of minerals deposits, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the country is...Read More
After three years of steep declines, investors in the mining and metals finally caught a break in 2016.In his weekly report Frank Holmes of US Global Investors includes a chart that shows just how well investors in the sector are faring by highlighting the 10 best performing industries for the year: "Interestingly enough, metals and mining companies, particularly those involved in the gold space...Read More
Shares in Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill Resources (TSE, NYSE:TRQ) soared Monday on reports that the mining giant had hired Goldman Sachs as an adviser to look at a two-step wrap-up of the Vancouver-based firm.Rio wants to increase its stake in Turquoise Hill to 51% and have the rest of the Canadian firm acquired by single strategic buyer or consortium. The stock was up 12.5% to Cdn$4.14 in...Read More
Large mining companies are selling off some of their prized assets after the prolonged global commodities markets rout left some with high levels of debt.Anglo American, Glencore and Freeport have been at the forefront of those companies cutting debt, but BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have also been looking to rationalize their assets while signaling an interest in acquisitions.Shares in mining firms...Read More
It probably won't become the latest fad diet, but copper is believed to be useful for burning fat and therefore avoiding weight gain.That is according to recent research out of the University of California, Berkeley, which sought to clarify the role that copper plays in nutrition. Researchers at Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Howard Hughes Medical Institute found that copper...Read More
In afternoon New York trade on Friday copper for delivery in July suffered another down day exchanging hands for $2.0175 a pound ($4,458 a tonne) settling at its lowest level since mid-February.Copper's weakness comes despite Chinese trade data released earlier this week showing 2016 imports of refined copper are up 22% compared to the first five months last year. The increase in copper con...Read More
A US court has ruled in favour of Rio Tinto's (LON, ASX:RIO) Kennecott in a lawsuit over alleged pollution at its Bingham Canyon copper mine, located in Utah.The charges were brought forward in Sep. 2013 by a coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Utah Moms for Clean Air and WildEarth Guardians, which claimed the operation was excee...Read More
Chinese firms Zhongjin Gold Corp., Shandong Gold Mining Co. and Zijin Mining Group Co. are said to be competing for Glencore's (LON:GLEN) gold mine in Kazakhstan, which the miner and commodities giant put up for sale earlier this year.Glencore may be seeking about $2 billion for its Vasilkovskoye mine, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.The sale would bring Glencore closer to its t...Read More
Despite a painful readjustment caused by a recent global collapse in commodity prices, Australia is seen as the world's most attractive region for mining investment, according to the latest annual global survey of mining executives released Thursday by the Fraser Institute.Mining has been the driving force of Australia's economy, helping GDP growth average 3.6% a year for most of this century.Mi...Read More
According to a new study of private capital in the resources sector from industry tracker Preqin investment firms now have $400 billion assets under management after 10 years of uninterrupted growth.Of this $239 billion represent unrealized value with the remaining $161 billion so-called dry-powder capital ready to invest.2015 could be the first year since 2004 in which positive net capital...Read More
In New York trade on Wednesday copper for delivery in July bounced back after customs data from top consumer China showed imports of the red metal remain strong.In midday New York trade July copper, the most active contract, exchanged hands for $2.0605 a pound ($4,588 a tonne) up slightly following yesterday's steep decline that pushed the price into negative territory for the year.China is respon...Read More