Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) is selling its stake in the copper and gold Timok project in Serbia to Canadian Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN), for as much as $263 million.The largest listed copper miner is the current project operator and holds a 55% interest on it, while Lundin holds the remaining 45%.The transaction adds to Lundin's $1.8 billion acquisition in 2014 of a controlling stake in Freeport's C...Read More
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation is eliminating at least 1,300 jobs at two companies it controls in Democratic Republic of Congo as a result of extremely low copper prices.The job cuts, which may increase to 1,800 if the metal prices don't recover, will affect its Boss Mining unit and subcontracting firm Congo Cobalt, Bloomberg reported.The layoffs may increase to 1,800 if copper prices don...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco, the world's top producer of the industrial metal, said Wednesday oversupply is likely to last through this year and next, bringing prices down again to around $2 to $2.10 a pound.After that, chairman Oscar Landerretche expects the market to swing to a deficit of 50,000 to 100,000 metric tons in 2018, with the shortfall expanding to 300,000 to 400,000 tons...Read More
Pascua-Lama has been shut since 2013. (Image courtesy of Barrick Gold)Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), which recently regained its status as the world's most valuable producer of the precious metal, has began a "drastic revision" of its mothballed Pascua-Lama project in South America.According to Chilean news outlet El Pulso (in Spanish), the company's President Kelvin Dushnisky revealed tha...Read More
Already high bankruptcy and default rates in mining & metals and oil & gas will only accelerate this year as the prolonged downturn in commodities begin to spill over into other sectors.Overall, global speculative-grade corporate defaults will increase by more than 30% in 2016 and reach the highest level since 2009, says Moody's Investors Service in a new report.And 2015 already saw close to a do...Read More
Vancouver, British Columbia - Sandstorm Gold Ltd. ("Sandstorm" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT: SAND, TSX: SSL) has amended its metal credit purchase agreement with Entr?(C)e Gold Inc. ("Entr?(C)e"). In exchange for US$5.5 million in cash and 5.1 million common shares in the capital of Entr?(C)e (the "Consideration"), Sandstorm has agreed to reduce, by 17%, the amount of metal credits that the Compa...Read More
Beleaguered miner and commodity trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) unveiled Tuesday the extend of the damaged caused by the current mining downturn, logging an annual loss of $8 billion and $5.8 billion of charges.The company, the second-worst performer in the FTSE 100 last year, reported a net loss of $4.96 billion compared with net profit of $2.3 billion in 2014, as the price of its key commodities - in...Read More
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has been chosen the most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment in the country, and the second best worldwide, a new study published Tuesday shows.According to the latest annual global survey of mining executives by the Fraser Institute, the potash and uranium-rich province leads the way for the second consecutive year. The jurisdiction is perceived a...Read More
Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank open-pit gold mine in the Nunavut Territory of Canada Image Jason Pineau In 2015, preliminary estimated gold production by the top publicly-traded and non state-owned gold mining companies amounted to 30.78 Moz, a 1% increase compared to 2014 totals (30.39 Moz).Five out of the 10 miners suffered a decline in their attributable gold output while another five of them ach...Read More
Copper had a fourth decline in five sessions on speculation that China's efforts to stimulate its economy will fail to rekindle demand growth in the world's biggest metals consumer.China's central bank cut the reserve ratio amid plunging stock prices and a weakening currency. Global equities headed for a fourth monthly decline amid mounting concerns about slowing world growth. Copper has lost more...Read More
Close to 40,000 cubic meters of wastewater from a copper mine in northern Mexico spilled into rivers in 2014, forcing authorities to restrict water supply to urban areas.The leak, which is now considered the worst environmental disaster in the country's history, came from Grupo Mexico's (BMV:GMEXICOB) Buenavista copper mine, located only about 40 km from the U.S. border, and contaminated the Baca...Read More
Eritrea expects to have four mines in operation by 2018 producing gold, copper, zinc and potash as one of Africa's poorest nations looks to build an industry that can kick-start its economy, a top mining official told Reuters.Eritrea's artisanal miners have long scratched for gold nuggets on deposits that stretch along the Red Sea, a geological formation known as the Arabian Nubian Shield, but the...Read More
Now that Exploration Insights founder Brent Cook is starting to see the bright side of the mining equity cycle, he brought in former Canaccord Genuity Analyst Joe Mazumdar to cover developers and producers at the newsletter. In this interview with The Gold Report, the pair share observations from their recent travels and a short list of companies they are compiling to take advantage of a possible...Read More
Perth - ASX-listed Sandfire Resources has seen its interim profit after tax halved during the six months to December, compared with the previous corresponding period, as lower copper prices impacted on its earnings.Profits after tax for the interim period declined from A$30.6-million in the first half of 2015 to A$15.7-million, as sales revenue declined from A$261.8-million to A$228.3-million duri...Read More
BHP Billiton's spin-off South32 (ASX, LON, JSE:S32) confirmed Thursday it is looking for assets, mainly copper ones, despite reporting a significant loss for the half-year and announcing it will cut more than 770 jobs across Australia.In the six months to the end of December, the Perth-based company lost $1.75 billion due to write-downs of its manganese and coal assets.The loss represents a dramat...Read More
Rio Tinto, the world's number two miner in terms of revenues, suffered the same fate as many of its peers on Wednesday with a downgrade by Moody's Investor Services.The credit ratings agency downgraded the senior unsecured ratings of Melbourne-based Rio and its subsidiaries one notch from to Baa1 from A3 with a negative outlook.Moody's said the downgrade reflects its view "that there has been...Read More
Copper prices fell the most in two weeks in London, as investors' worries over China's deepening economic slowdown and collapsing oil prices dampened sentiment across commodities markets.The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract fell as much as 1.4%, the most since Feb. 10, to $4,580 a metric ton and was at $4,591.50 by 12:11 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Other industrial metals...Read More
TRIPLING its copper exports over the next two decades is the cornerstone of an Australian state's plan to bolster its mining industry.The South Australian Government has launched its long-term Copper Strategy to produce and export more than $8 billion of copper a year and entrench the state as one of the world's major suppliers of the metal.South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the strategy...Read More
Ontario, Canada's second largest province, has become one of the of the country's main mining districts where it takes the longest to obtain exploration permits, a new report released Tuesday shows.According to a survey of mining executives by the Fraser Institute, growing wait times for permits across Canada, and particularly in Ontario, add to the cost of exploration and may ultimately hinder t...Read More
BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) cut its dividend for the first time since 1988 years on Tuesday, becoming the latest company to do so in a sector struggling with the worst slump in commodity prices in a decade and high debt loads.In a statement, the world's biggest mining company saw its first-half underlying profits tumble 92% coming in way below expectations at $412 million for the 6 months to end Dece...Read More