The copper price hit an 18-month high on an intraday basis last week as global manufacturing activity continues to pick up and hopes about US president-elect Trump's $500 billion infrastructure plans lift sentiment.While it's pulled back from those levels since, official customs data from China, responsible for some 45% of global consumption of the red metal, released on Thursday is seeing the...Read More
The Peruvian government has asked MMG to resubmit an environmental plan for its Las Bambas copper mine, in order to include more feedback from local communities.The country's vice president, Martin Vizcarra, noted the mine will be allowed to operate as usual while it prepares an "integral" environmental impact study, local paper La Rep??blica reports (in Spanish).Move is part of the new governm...Read More
Anglo American (LON:AAL) is facing increasing pressure to make a decision on its plans to sell or spin-off its iron ore, coal and manganese operations in South Africa next year.The world's number five diversified miner has already held talks with its biggest investor, the country's state-owned Public Investment Corp. (PIC), which was pressing Anglo to include its prized platinum assets in any plan...Read More
Many people seem to think Trump is going to "fix" the US by invoking the isolationist, nationalist, and oft failed economic policy of protectionism. But, as Ludwig von Mises put it in Nation, State and Economy, "From the purely economic point of view nothing speaks against free trade and everything against protectionism." In other words, there is no economic argument in favor of protectionism. It...Read More
* World share markets climb for 4th day, Wall Street at record* ECB spooks bonds, euro jumps with plans to slow stimulus* China trade beats forecasts, commodity imports jump* Oil prices steady after slip, steel surge lifts iron ore* Graphic: World FX rates in 2016 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVhBy Marc JonesLONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A signal from the European Central Bank that it would slow its stimulus...Read More
* World share markets climb for 4th day, Wall Street at record* ECB to detail plans to extend stimulus* China trade beats forecasts, commodity imports jump* Euro unfazed as Moody's turns negative on Italy rating* Oil prices steady after slip, steel surge lifts iron ore* Graphic: World FX rates in 2016 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVhBy Marc JonesLONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - World shares climbed to a three-mo...Read More
* World share markets climb for 4th day, Wall Street at record* ECB to detail plans to extend stimulus* China trade beats forecasts, commodity imports jump* Euro unfazed as Moody's turns negative on Italy rating* Oil prices steady after slip, steel surge lifts iron ore* Graphic: World FX rates in 2016 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVhBy Marc JonesLONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - World shares climbed to a near thr...Read More
(Adds company news items, futures)Dec 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening between 16 and 25 points higher, or up as much as 0.4 percent on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.3 percent ahead of the cash market open.* The UK blue chip index was up 1.8 percent to 6,902.23 at its close on Wednesday, as investors snapped up bank and mining stoc...Read More
Dec 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening between 16 and 25 points higher, or up as much as 0.4 percent on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.* The UK blue chip index was up 1.8 percent to 6,902.23 at its close on Wednesday, as investors snapped up bank and mining stocks and rotated out of more "defensive" parts of the market. GLENCORE: Russia said on Wednesday it s...Read More
The copper price hit an 18-month high on an intraday basis last week as global manufacturing activity continues to pick up and hopes about US president-elect Trump's $500 billion infrastructure plans lift sentiment.While it's pulled back from those levels since, official customs data from China, responsible for some 45% of the seaborne trade in the red metal, released on Thursday is seeing the met...Read More
Nevsun Resources (TSE:NSU NYSEMKT:NSU) Timok copper project continues to boost the stock of the Vancouver-based company with a 5% jump on Wednesday following the latest set of drilling results from the Serbian property.By the close in New York, Nevsun shares changed hands at $3.30, up 4.8% on the day, and in after hours trade investors continued to chase the counter higher affording it a market ca...Read More
Plans by Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) to revive its Pascua Lama project straddling the border between Argentina and Chile received a boost on Wednesday after Chilean authorities rejected an attempt by local communities to block changes to environmental monitoring at the site.The ministerial resolution can be appealed within 30 days and Reuters reports the Huasco Valley community which brought the...Read More
Capital allocation will be the top priority for Canada's large mining companies going into 2017, as they'll have to focus on directing money to the right projects and advancing them with the necessary funding in place, a new report released by PwC Wednesday shows.The mine of the future will embrace innovation and non-traditional ideas to overcome challenges and achieve success, the document says,...Read More
Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastian Jacques said Wednesday an ongoing border dispute with China over copper exports from Mongolia, which directly affects its massive Oyu Tolgoi mine, will be resolved quickly.Referring to his previous dealings with the Mongolian government Jacques told The Telegraph he had become used to "such bumps in the road"."Each time we would work with the authorities...Read More
Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) has decided to strengthen its position in Latin America, a market where it has experienced a series of challenges in the past three years, by hiring a new director with decades of mining experience in the region.The world's largest producer of the precious metal by output said the appointment of Pablo Marcet, who worked for 15 years for BHP Billiton and was pr...Read More
Dec 7 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening between 31 and 35 points higher, or up as much as 0.52 percent on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers.* The UK blue chip index closed up 0.5 pct at close at 6,779.84, supported by a rally in bank stocks. RIO TINTO: The copper market will go into deficit by 2020, just when Rio Tinto 's RIO.L RIO.AX extension to the Oyu Tolgo...Read More
Ahead of the US presidential election great hopes were pinned on the performance of the gold price should Donald Trump prevail. A few analysts saw a Trump victory sending gold to $1,500 or well beyond.After a brief surge to $1338 an ounce on election night, gold's nearly $180 an ounce collapse has unnerved the entire sector - even those companies enjoying the bounce in base metals that started wa...Read More
Chile contains half of the world's most "economically extractable" reserves of lithium. (Image courtesy of University of Chile)Chinese and Korean investors are said to be in advanced talks with the Chilean government to open up a $2 billion mega-lithium batteries plant in the country's north, known for its vast salt flats under which experts say there is enough of the commodity to supply the worl...Read More
On Tuesday, December 6, 2016, the nation will pay tribute to the American miner, both past and present, on National Miners Day. This day was proclaimed in 1907 by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and Congress in 2009 to commemorate a 1907 explosion at the No. 6 and No. 8 mines in Monongah, West Virginia, killing 362 miners. This incident still stands over a century later as the wor...Read More
I'm sure most of you have, like me, spent too much time reading and thinking about this issue in recent weeks. The first half of the year was so fun, so rewarding, with all the arguments for gold proving true. It is much less fun now seeing gains erode, seeing gold break down through technical barriers, seeing the US dollar rise and rise, and seeing US equities maintain a seemingly endless bull ru...Read More