Base metals started the new year where they left off the old one, by falling again.The London Metal Exchange index (LMEX) slumped to a one-and-a-half year low of 2730.1 on Jan. 3.The trigger was Apple Inc's revenue warning, not the type of news event that normally roils prices of old-economy metals such as copper, lead and zinc.But the reaction was highly instructive of what to expect in the month...Read More
irst Quantum Minerals Ltd. is poised to fire up a giant copper project in Panama, thousands of miles from its beleaguered mines in Zambia. For bondholders, that's a welcome distance.The Canadian copper company is ramping up production at the Cobre Panama plant this year, even as a mining tax hike forces it to shed jobs and cut production at its Zambian facilities. With Panama slated to become a mo...Read More
Copper output in Chile, the leading producing nation, is expected to exceed 6 million tonnes for the first time this year and continue to rise by about 30% over the next 10 years, according to the country's state copper agency, Cochilco.Production of the red metal, the agency says, could reach a record of 7.25 million tonnes as early as 2025, thanks mainly to new projects and planned expansions to...Read More
The precious metals complex has enjoyed a nice run in recent months.GDX has gained 25% since the September lows while GDXJ has gained 22% since its November low. Gold has rallied over $100/oz since its October low and Silver has surged in recent weeks.The Gold community is getting excited again. They think the equity market is doomed and Gold has started a real bull run. That may be true but in th...Read More
Kyzyl ramp-up signals new growth path at buoyant PolymetalSPONSOREDpolymetal internationalWith the Cambridge House Vancouver Resource Investment Conference taking place mid-January, Mining Journal asked its keynote speakers what they think 2019 will bring the sector.Read More
PolarX builds bigger, richer Zackly pictureSPONSOREDpolar x limitedIn its annual copper production forecast, Cochilco said production from existing mines will fall 19% to about 4.46Mtpy despite expansion and optimisation projects with the growth it forecasts coming from new builds.Openpit mines will continue to dominate the production landscape in Chile providing well over 80% of metal output thro...Read More
Kyzyl ramp-up signals new growth path at buoyant PolymetalSPONSOREDpolymetal internationalRainy River, an operation dogged by financial overruns and technical issues, reported its best ever quarterly gold production of 77,202oz to end the year strongly and taking full year production toRead More
Golden Mile has the right stuff: ReynoldsSPONSOREDgolden mile resourcesDealing with the complexity of Coal data with Geobank 2018SPONSOREDmicromineBezant's Mankayan back in copper-gold spotlightSPONSOREDbezant resourcesKyzyl ramp-up signals new growth path at buoyant PolymetalSPONSOREDpolymetal internationalThe Ley Reservada was enacted in October 1958 and directly allocates 10% of export sale...Read More
Auryn Resources (TSX: AUG) announced today that it has identified a significant zone of oxide copper mineralization over a 1.2-kilometer strike length and 500-meter width at the Milpoc prospect. This is about 12 kilometers south of the company's 120,000-hectare Sombrero copper-gold property, which is located in southern Peru in the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt.According to Auryn, Sombrero is characteriz...Read More
Pancontinental Resources (TSXV: PUC) announced today it has started a diamond drill program on its nickel-cobalt-copper Montcalm project, located 65 kilometres northwest of Timmins in the eastern Canadian province of Ontario.The 3,780-hectares project sits within the Montcalm Gabbro Complex in the Montcalm Greenstone Belt. It is contiguous to and surrounds the western, northwestern and southwester...Read More
The gold stocks' young upleg is really growing, on a trajectory to become major. This contrarian sector is breaking out to the upside on multiple fronts technically, which is really improving sentiment. Traders' extreme bearishness of late summer has mostly abated, with bullish shoots taking root. Fundamentals certainly justify the mounting gold-stock buying, with earnings set to surge on hi...Read More
Preliminary results from Democratic Republic of Congo's tumultuous presidential election will be delayed past Sunday's deadline, the head of the election commission told Reuters.The commission, known as CENI, had received only 47 percent of vote tally sheets as of Saturday, said its president, Corneille Nangaa, and it was not yet clear when the results would be ready.The delay is the latest setbac...Read More
Global refined copper consumption will register steady growth over the coming years, driven by demand from the power industry, rising electric vehicle (EV) production and a positive global economic growth outlook, a new copper supply and demand outlook by Fitch Solutions shows.Fitch forecasts that global copper demand will increase from 23.6mnt in 2018 to 29 .8mnt by 2027, at 2.6% annual growth.Bu...Read More
Ecuador, one of the hottest destinations for copper prospectors, aims to more than double the value of mining to its economy by 2021, but projects risks delays and potential halts due to growing local opposition to the extraction of the country's resources.According to the latest report by Fitch Solutions Macro Research, the ongoing expansion of mining exploration in the South American country is...Read More
Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), majority owned by Vedanta Resources, suspended operations at its Nchanga mine following the introduction of an import duty on copper concentrates, the company said.Zambia, Africa's No.2 copper producer, introduced new mining duties, increased royalties and plans to replace Value Added Tax (VAT) with a sales tax by April to help bring down mounting debt.KCM said...Read More
Cost estimating is a niche practice in any industry; however the mining business brings unique challenges. Cost estimating must be considered at nearly every stage of a project's development to inform investors and to de-risk decisions.Investors need the comfort of knowing that project decisions are as unbiased as possible, from the first resource definition through to development. Exploration...Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo is in uncharted waters as the nation awaits election results marking the end of President Joseph Kabila's rule. One thing is certain: the mining world is watching closely.Congo, which held presidential polls on Dec. 30, is one of the world's most important but difficult mining jurisdictions. Companies including Glencore Plc, Barrick Gold Corp. and China Molybdenum...Read More
Democratic Republic of Congo revised down its estimate of cobalt production for the first nine months of 2018, to 81,292 tonnes from an earlier estimate of 115,116 tonnes, central bank data showed on Friday.The revision means that output of cobalt, an important component of electric car batteries, rose 35.9 percent compared to the same period in 2017, rather than 92.5 percent as the bank said prev...Read More
Global markets plummeted this week on China slowdown worries, dragging industrial metals prices along and increasing future demand concerns, which has prompted analysts to question whether Beijing is doing enough to address the country's economic contraction.BMO analyst Colin Hamilton said in a note to investors Friday there were many questions in the metals market raised by the trend in China of...Read More
As the new year begins, gold continues to gain respect as the ultimate investment asset. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the U.S. dollar.Most investors tend to view the dollar as a "safe haven", but the big bank FOREX traders that really move the currency market view the dollar as a risk-on asset class.They view gold and the Japanese yen as the main risk-off assets. So, when the d...Read More