Chile's Codelco, the world's No.1 copper producer, said a strike over contract terms initiated Monday by members of Union No. 2 of its Salvador mine, threatens the division's feasibility.Salvador, which is the state-owned firm's smallest operation and produced 49,000 tonnes of copper last year, has been battling to turn a profit after dwindling ore grades pushed up production costs, affecting a p...Read More
The premier of Tasmania Will Hodgman, during a trade mission to India announced government backing for a restart of a copper mine on the island that was Australia's oldest continually operating mine until its mothballing two years ago.Hodgman told NDTV that the operation, now owned by India's Vedanta, could reopen as early as next year with state support:"It is a sizable operation and at its peak...Read More
The Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines-Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) has embarked on a major diversification programme which will enhance its investment both in the country and abroad, according to sources Monday.However the Zambian holding company is still beset with a lot of problems including a running debt with the government. At least the more than US$400 million it owes the state has been conv...Read More
BHP Billiton has launched Prospects, a blog series, to provide insights on global trends relevant to our business and our stakeholders.The blogs will offer views on economics, commodities outlook and individual markets, and broader issues such as policy, governance and our social contribution.Prospects provides an avenue to contribute to debates that are important to BHP Billiton. It will also fea...Read More
The recent Sprott Natural Resource Symposium in Vancouver assembled some of the most accomplished builders & explorers in the natural resource space.Following the conference, Rick Rule, President of Sprott US Holdings, was kind enough to share comments on investment opportunities offered up by the conference, as well as reflect on the experience, with Sprott's Thoughts readers.[Editor's Note-If...Read More
Hedge funds and other large speculators held a net-short position, or bets on price declines, of 4,991 U.S. copper futures and options contracts in the week ended Aug. 23, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released three days later. They switched from a net-long position, or wagers on a rally, of 2,237 a week earlier.Read moreRead More
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), the world's No.1 heavy machinery maker, revealed Friday that it may close its plant in Gosselies, Belgium, leaving more than 2,000 people out of work, as part of a streamlining and cost-savings plan announced last year.The news triggered immediate reactions, with a group of about 60 employees seizing bulldozers and attempting to block the entrance to the plant, Belgium's st...Read More
An increase in industrial action is usually bad news, but copper producers worldwide should be cheering the souring relationship between Chilean mine workers and pit bosses.Employees at Los Bronces, the world's 10th-biggest deposit, rebuffed a final pay offer this week from owners Anglo American, while one of the key unions at Codelco's Salvador mine voted against a pay proposal from the gove...Read More
Exploration at Hot Chili Ltd.'s Productora copper project, located in Chile, has uncovered a gold resource at Sierra Zapallo, prompting analyst Trent Barnett of Hartleys to upgrade the company to a Speculative Buy.Though Hot Chili Ltd.'s (HCH:ASX) Productora is a copper project-Hot Chili lists resources at the site at more than 1 million tonnes copper-exploration at Sierra Zapallo has "revealed ve...Read More
Anglo American's largest shareholder, South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (PIC), has stepped up pressure on the miner's plan to exit coal and iron ore to focus only on copper, diamonds and platinum by reportedly calling for a shareholder vote.The South African assets Anglo plans to sell include Kumba Iron Ore Ltd., coal mines that supply state-owned power producer Eskom Holdings, and mang...Read More
Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world's most valuable producer of the precious metal, has appointed a new executive to lead the Argentine side of its mothballed Pascua-Lama project in South America, in a fresh sign that the miner is aiming to restart the mothballed $8.5 billion gold, silver and copper mine.George Bee will assume as vice president of the Argentine side of the project -...Read More
Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ABG) have locked horns over who should own the copper and gold mine that Rio Tinto donated to both last month.According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, PNG's Prime Minister wants to give islanders a minority stake in Bougainville Copper Limited (ASX:BOC), the former Rio Tinto's subsidiary.But such move would prevent ABG from...Read More
Copper production in Zambia, a mineral-rich Southern African country may not reach the projected two million metric tons at the close of this year after all because of a number of factors, not least the continuing drop in prices of the red metal on the international market, according to sources Tuesday.However the Institute of International Finances (IIF) predicts that copper output will reach 740...Read More
Insufficient power at First Quantum Minerals (FQM) mine in the North-Western Province of Zambia, a mineral-rich Southern African country has resulted in reduced copper production, according to sources Thursday.Dependent upon diesel-driven power plants which supply almost 200MW of electricity to the FQM mining operation at Kalumbila, almost 120 kilometers west of Solwezi the provincial capital nee...Read More
Mongolia's prime minister is urging mining giant Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and its Canadian subsidiary Turquoise Hill (TSE:TRQ) to speed up work on a $5.3 billion expansion of their massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine.Reuters reports PM Jargaltulga Erdenebat sent a message to Rio Tinto's copper chief Arnaud Soirat in an official statement on the Mongolian government website urging the company to "c...Read More
The average retiring worker takes with him 37 years of labour force experience, a loss the industry must offset, says the report. (Image from archives)With commodity prices rebounding from their lowest in at least 25 years, miners are stepping up spending and considering the reactivation of projects placed in the back burner, but there is a new looming risk they don't seem ready to deal with - the...Read More
When Newmont Mining Corp. began exploring for gold in Indonesia in the 1980s, the country's wealth of untapped resources was seen as the Colorado-based miner's ticket to the big leagues.The Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in eastern Indonesia was one of the largest undeveloped deposits in the world, and Newmont's billion-dollar investment put it on the path to becoming the world's No. 2 gold miner...Read More
The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission paid an unnamed whistleblower at BHP Billiton $3.75 million relating to a bribery investigation at the world's top mining company going back more than eight years."Citing legal sources, the newspaper report said it was the first time an employee of an Australian company had received a U.S. whistlebl...Read More
Shares in Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) were soaring Monday morning after the Canadian miner revealed it would seek "strategic advice" after receiving "unsolicited interest" in the company and its projects.Mining veteran Robert Friedland, the Vancouver-based miner chief executive, said the firm would likely hire an investment bank to advise the board on all strategic options for Ivanhoe.The company sto...Read More
Kinross Gold (TSE:K) (NYSE:KGC), the world's fifth largest miner of the precious metal by output, has suspended operations at its main mine in Chile earlier than planned after a court upheld the country's regulator (SMA) decision to shut down the water system linked to the operation over environmental concerns.The Canadian miner, which disputes the regulator's accusations of alleged environmental...Read More