As metal prices plunged on the eve of the financial crisis in September 2008, Peru’s billionaire Brescia family paid about $400 million to buy the world’s largest tin deposit in the Amazon jungle.Now their mining company Minsur SA sits alone among mostly Asian rivals as the only major producer in 2014 that can raise output of a metal increasingly in demand because it’s mixed into...Read More

Global miner Rio Tinto surprised investors with a 15 percent dividend hike after reporting a huge jump in second-half profit on Thursday, putting it in a strong position for a big capital return in 2015.Rio’s result will set the pace for other mega miners, who have shelved projects, axed costs, sold assets and cut debt over the past 18 months to satisfy shareholders wanting a bigger share of...Read More

Slowing growth and credit concerns in China have taken an enormous toll on base metal prices. The related mining stocks have been hammered as well in recent weeks, and according to analysts at Dundee Capital Markets, there could be worse to come.“The bottom line is that with stimulus being tapered, China’s slowing fundamentals will likely reassert themselves and we believe miners will...Read More

Thursday was such a dreadful day for global markets (and especially for precious metals) that investors and media took little notice of base metals, which also took a tumble. Copper is now trading just above US$3.00 a pound, way down from a high of more than US$4.50 in 2011.Jessica Fung, a commodity strategist at BMO Capital Markets, noted that a slight bounce back is possible in the short term. B...Read More

By Veronica Brown and Melanie BurtonLONDON — Copper fell to its lowest in a month on Tuesday after disappointing U.S. employment data on Friday raised concerns about slowing growth, while a slight fall in China’s copper imports did little to shore up sentiment.Losses were limited, however, by the view that China’s economic slowdown was not drastic, with off-take for copper seen k...Read More

While global markets have not been kind to stocks in recent days, it’s mining stocks that have taken the biggest beating — and are now at levels not seen since mid-2010.“Energy, base metals and gold stocks remain more than 20% off their cyclical peaks of a year ago,” said Ste??fane Marion, chief economist and strategist with National Bank.Mining stocks have not been this lo...Read More

By Silvia AntonioliLONDON — Copper was steady on Thursday, after a 2 percent fall the previous session, and was on track for a 10 percent increase this quarter, although doubts over demand in China and over the pace of economic recovery in the U.S. made investors cautious.Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded at $8,330 a tonne in official rings, little changed from a clo...Read More

Detour Gold last month sold C$277 million of equity to investors willing to bet on its promising gold project – a hefty sum that bankers say the Canadian company would have struggled to raise barely two months earlier.Detour’s success in raising funds is one of many small signs that the malaise that gripped miners, explorers and investors in late 2011 is easing. A brighter economic out...Read More

By Ted NilesLevon Resources' (TSX:LVN) preliminary economic estimate of its Cordero project was originally intended for internal use only. President and CEO Ron Tremblay admits that normal procedure is to drill off the resource before working on the economics, but Cordero is unusually large. He explains, “We’ve just started our Phase 4, 130,000-metre drill program, so there’s an...Read More

By Susan ThomasLONDON — Copper was steady on Tuesday after the euro trimmed gains against the dollar on waning enthusiasm over a survey showing Germany, Europe’s largest economy, was holding up despite the debt crisis, but gains were limited by scant signs of buying from top metals consumer China.Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was $8,430 a tonne in official rings from...Read More

OTTAWA — Commodities entered 2012 on more positive footing after the eurozone debt crisis sent resource prices into sharp retreat in the latter half of 2011, Scotiabank said Tuesday.“Sentiment has improved in early 2012,” said Patricia Mohr, author of Scotiabank’s Commodity Price Index, “with some investment and hedge funds shifting from short to long positions in bas...Read More

Commodity markets are looking up this year with a strong start to 2012, after prices were a mixed bag in 2011.But as the Aesop Fable shows, it takes more than a strong start to win the race, according to CIBC senior economist Peter Buchanan.While diminished risk aversion helped reduce prices for commodities and other volatile assets, Mr. Buchanan says they have better traction in 2012.Commodity ma...Read More

By Andy HomeSupply shortfall has defined the copper market for several years now.Many of the world’s biggest copper mines are aging and ore grades have been falling accordingly.Mine capacity utilization fell steadily from over 90 percent at the start of the last decade to 80.4 percent last year, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG). This year has been even worse. Capacity...Read More

The period of seasonal strength in the metals and mining sector is approaching. What are prospects this year?Thackray’s 2012 Investor’s Guide notes that the metals and mining sector has two periods of seasonal strength: From November 19th to January 5th and from January 23rd to May 5th. The combined periods have recorded an average return per period during the past 22 periods of 16.1%....Read More

Investors can expect a dividend increase of approximately 20% when Barrick Gold Corp. reports third quarter results before markets open on Thursday, October 27.That’s the forecast from Stephen D. Walker, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, who noted that Barrick last hiked its dividend in July 2010. He also pointed out that the company’s payout ratio is 10% of 2011 estimated earnings, comp...Read More

Shares of North American base metal miners tumbled on Monday along with the price of copper, zinc, and nickel after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by S&P amplified fears of a global economic slowdown.Shares of U.S. miner Freeport McMoRan and Canada’s First Quantum and Teck Resources, among others, fell sharply in New York and Toronto.Copper, used in the power and construction in...Read More

Copper slipped on Monday in thin trading as signs that the property market was cooling in top metals consumer China worsened the outlook for industrial metals demand and weighed on market sentiment.Three-month copper closed at $7,260 a tonne, down more than 1 percent from a close at $7,345 a tonne on Friday. Traders said business was being pared back ahead of the end of the year.Prices have shed o...Read More

Copper posted its first weekly gain in five weeks on Friday as it pushed near $8,000 per tonne on the back of persistent inventory tightness and a move this week by central banks to boost liquidity.With the exception of tin futures, which lost nearly 4 percent this week, investment demand for the base metals was up sharply. One standout performer was aluminium, which surged nearly 7 percent after...Read More

Industrial metals rose for a second day in London, extending the biggest rally in two years, as figures showed manufacturing may swell in top global consumer China. Chinese manufacturing might expand in October for the first month in four after a preliminary purchasing managers’ index released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics today climbed to 51.1 from September’s final readin...Read More

Shares of Quadra FNX rose more than 7 percent on Monday morning after the Canadian base metal miner reported a large increase in quarterly copper production.Vancouver-based Quadra said its second-quarter production rose 20 percent from the previous quarter at its mines in the United States, Canada and Chile.The company, which is expected to report quarterly financial results on Aug. 10, said coppe...Read More