Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill Resources said Tuesday it had received an "information" request from the Mongolian Anti-Corruption Authority (ACA) to provide financial data associated to its giant Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia.The petition relates to an investigation about possible abuse of power by authorized officials during negotiation of the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi investment agreeme...Read More

Barrick Gold's chairman John Thornton has just given a fresh boost to the company's global employee share plan, leading by example.The boss of the world's top miner of the precious metal bought Tuesday 306,000 additional shares in the company, bringing his total share ownership position to 2,720,991 common shares.Two other directors also hiked their stake, Barrick said, including Rob Prichard - w...Read More

Image: Codelco via FlickrWhen Richard Adkerson, boss of Freeport-McMoRan, presented to the BMO Capital Markets conference in Florida last month he showed a slide headlined World class copper discoveries are extremely rare.Adkerson said the Phoenix-based company has been putting these graphs in investor slide decks "for years".Only one project - Oyu Tolgoi's underground expansion - will crack the t...Read More

(Bloomberg) - Samsung C&T Corp., an affiliate of the world's biggest smartphone maker, is in talks for a multi-year deal to buy cobalt from a Congolese miner, joining Apple Inc. in the global rush to secure supplies of the metal at the heart of the electric-car boom.Samsung C&T has approached Somika SPRL to buy cobalt produced at its Kisanfu mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo after only buy...Read More

It was a broadly positive period for mining equities around the globe with Australian-listed lithium producer Galaxy Resources (AU:GXY) following yesterday's 3.5% gain with a further rise above 9%.Staff reporterGalaxy gains again14 MARCH 201814/03/2018commentsshareThe spot gold price was about US$8 an ounce higher than this time yesterday and producer St Barbara (AU:SBM) rose more than 5.5% as it...Read More

Markets were upbeat in the wake of positive jobs data out of the US on Friday and copper miners rose around the globe as the bellwether metal closed up 2% on the London Metal Exchange.Staff reporterCopper producers rise12 MARCH 201812/03/2018commentsshareThe copper cash price was US$6,937.50 per tonne, about $1,100/t higher than at this point last year.On the S&P500, copper producer Freeport-M...Read More

Asian stocks followed US equities higher on Friday for what appeared to be two very different reasons.Staff reporter Donald Trump is expected to meet with his North Korean counterpart by MayLance Cpl. Isaac Martinez09 MARCH 201809/03/2018commentsshareWhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 0.4% gain on Thursday as Donald Trump confirmed US import tariffs on steel and aluminium, the late ri...Read More

The head of the cobalt royalty and streaming company "trading as a proxy for the adoption of the electric vehicle" and aiming to emulate successful precious metals business models, says there is no shortage of potential portfolio projects outside the Congo, and pure-play cobalt ventures, and he has the funding in hand to "have a seat at the table [in] every single one of the ongoing" project finan...Read More

Chinese conglomerate CITIC (HK:267) has warned it will have to write down its troubled Sino Iron project in Western Australia by up to US$1 billion.Kristie BattenThe Sino Iron magnetite mine in WA is under threat of suspension 13 MARCH 201813/03/2018commentsshare The Hong Kong-listed company said the estimated impairment of US$800 million to US$1 billion was the result of a review of carrying valu...Read More

Lithium Chile (TSXV: LITH) CEO Steve Cochrane will be looking to get some positive momentum back in the company's share price with the imminent start of drilling at its Chile salar lithium ground, followed soon by the planned spin-out of copper-gold focused subsidiary Kairos Metals. Cochrane told Mining Journal joint venture prospects had also emerged, a positive given the minnow's big Chile landh...Read More

Anglo American (LN:AAL) will take on the role of teacher and career counselor in mining towns around the world.Staff reporter"Remember kids, if you write about Anglo's mining improvement plans, you must use the trademark symbol" 13 MARCH 201813/03/2018commentsshareAnglo has picked five new social and environment 2030 "stretch goals", which presumably won't result in bonuses being blo...Read More

Rio Tinto's growth and innovation group executive Steve McIntosh agrees miners are in a big fight with competing industries for the technical skills they need to maximise returns from smart machines, and data, but it's one he doesn't feel they need to back away from.Richard Roberts in Toronto Work in progress: Rio Tinto's remote operations centre in Western Australia10 MARCH 201810/03/2018comm...Read More

Anthony O'Sullivan thinks the "most aggressive" contractors aiming to be first to restart harvesting rich mineral resources off the Pacific Ocean seafloor between Mexico and Hawaii might be in production in seven-to-10 years. DeepGreen Resources wants to be in the first wave (again).Richard Roberts in Toronto DeepGreen Resources is working with Denmark's Maersk to unlock mineral riches deep in...Read More

Miners relying on diesel to power operations in remote parts of the world could gain a competitive advantage by switching to renewable alternatives that can both lower ongoing energy costs and reduce environmental impacts, renewables executives and consultants say.Alastair Sharp in TorontoGlencore has seen the benefit of having an energy storage solution at its Raglan nickel mineTugliq08 MARCH 201...Read More

Do rock-kicking geos have a future in mining's new AI and machine learning dominated future? And is 'data scientist' the sexiest 21st century job in the world?Richard Roberts in Toronto07 MARCH 201807/03/2018commentsshare Liv Carroll, a highly regarded geologist who now works out of Accenture's London office as the group's senior digital mining principal, told a PDAC 2018 gathering in Toronto she...Read More

Daniel Malchuk, BHP's (AU:BHP) president for mineral operations in the Americas, is not shy about the mining industry's chequered history of failing to help improve the communities around its operations. He is determined that BHP will play a leading role in fixing it.Alastair Sharp in Toronto Daniel Malchuck: 'We need to set standards for other industries to follow'06 MARCH 201806/03/2018c...Read More

While juniors are still pinching pennies and dreaming of making it big with a killer discovery, engaging local communities around potential mine sites might seem like an added expense that is just not worth it. Continental Gold's (TSX: CNL) Alexandra Gu??queta would disagree.Alastair Sharp in Toronto Continental Gold has hired 37 graduates from Colombia's Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA), i...Read More

This week it's KPMG and Goldcorp in Toronto hosting the start-up firms that might just change mining with their fresh ideas. Last week it was Japanese equipment manufacturer Komatsu in Brisbane. The company's general manager Ryoichi Togashi said he was "blown away by the calibre of solutions" presented at the Brisbane 'Transform Mining' event.Staff reporter Komatsu general manager Ryoichi Togashi...Read More

With demand for commodities rising, prices back above long-term averages and debt levels diminishing, miners' thoughts will sooner or later turn to whether and how to develop new supply. But underlying returns on capital in the mining sector have been poor for decades, and the investment mantra that dominated during the last super-cycle - bigger is better - has turned out to be flawed.Neal Brewste...Read More

Resurgent mining equipment hire company Emeco Holdings (ASX: EHL) has been forced to deny takeover speculation.Staff reporter13 MARCH 201813/03/2018commentsshare On its front page today, the Australian Financial Review reported that the company met with its major shareholder and lender, Connecticut-based Black Diamond Capital Management, recently with Macquarie bankers to discuss options.Read More