Two workers died in an accident at Glencore's Zambian operation Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) on Tuesday, prompting it to suspend production pending investigations, the company said."All operations at the South Ore Body (shaft) have been suspended until further notice," the company said in a statement without providing details of the accident.Mopani is one the biggest mining companies in Zambia - Afri...Read More
Ecuador has tethered its economic fortunes to a burgeoning mining industry. Now it just needs to get bureaucrats and community leaders on board.Local opposition and red tape are hindering plans to become a mining superpower that can rival other South American nations. Less than two years ago the government hoped mining would become 4 percent of Ecuador's gross domestic product by the end of Presid...Read More
The biggest trading volume in copper call options on record signals supply troubles brewing in the market.A spread trade worth $6.5 million was posted just after 7 a.m. on Comex in New York in a bet that the price of the metal used in wires and pipes will surge past $3.05 in a few months, from Monday's settlement price of $2.909.Copper production will trail consumption by 116,000 metric tons this...Read More
Chile's Codelco, the world's No. 1 copper producer, is set to ink a long-awaited deal with Ecuador-controlled miner Enami EP to develop a jointly-owned copper project in the Andean country.The 982-million-tonne Llurimagua copper project, located in the Imbabura Province, about 80 km northeast of Ecuador's capital, Quito, is in the advanced exploration stage and could become the first mine Codelco...Read More
Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc. (LON: ANTO) expects the anticipated global copper deficit to hit between 100,000 and 300,000 tonnes this year as consumption growth remains positive, but production increases are minimal.Releasing the company's annual results, chief executive Iv??n Arriagada also revealed that the first phase of a planned expansion at its flagship Los Pelambres copper mine had been a...Read More
A report published by Deloitte Access Economics reveals that Australian mining companies paid A$30.6 billion in company tax and royalties in 2017-18 - the equivalent of all Federal Government spending on Australian schools, universities and vocational training.According to the report, the dollar amount paid in company taxes over the past couple of years surpasses that of 2011-12, which was the pea...Read More
"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftAntofagasta said the total dividend was above its minimum pay-out policy of 35% of underlying earnings per share and equal to a 65% pay-out ratio, down from last year's pay-out ratio of 67%.Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxAltech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsThe inferred Andrade copper deposit contains 10.8 million tonnes grading 0.56% copper and 2.56 grams per tonne silver, included within which there's an "openpit constrained" 1.3Mt of oxidised material at 0.43% copper.Aguia said the resource was located in a single structural panel, and that i...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxAltech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsThe company has spiced up its majority-owned Productora deposit - which has a resource base of about 1.5 million tonnes of copper and 1 million ounces of gold - with two recent additions that look set to deliver critical mass for a globally-significant copper development.The first is the majo...Read More
Anglo American has installed 256 photovoltaic panels that float on the tailings containment pond at its Los Bronces complex. This pilot project is expected to generate 150 MWh/year from 256 photovoltaic cells.The mine is located 65 km from Santiago at an elevation of 3,500 metres. The cells are designed to withstand extreme weather such as snow and heavy rain. Even winds of 210 km/h should not dis...Read More
A union at Chile's Sierra Gorda copper mine, controlled by Polish mining company KGHM, could go on strike this week after rejecting the latest offer in contract negotiations, the union leader told Reuters on Monday.The company still has until the end of Tuesday to request government mediation to help reach a deal with the union of 520 workers."I hope they will be ready to have an agreement because...Read More
Chile's economy surged in the fourth quarter as increases in mining output and investments set the stage for continued growth going forward.Gross domestic product grew 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, up from a revised 0.2 percent expansion in the three months through September. The economy expanded 3.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and 4 percent for the full year of 2018, the central...Read More
Havilah Resources (ASX: HAV) is planning to run a detailed, high resolution, airborne electromagnetic survey or AEM to explore for additional copper-cobalt resources in the Mutooroo copper-cobalt district, located in New South Wales, eastern Australia.The survey is planned to commence in mid-April and it is expected to take at least three weeks to complete. This type of study has never been done o...Read More
Chile's Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) (NYSE:GOLD), revoking the permanent closure of the Canadian miner's Pascua-Lama gold-silver project.The world's largest gold miner, which completed its merger with Randgold at the beginning of the year, said the March 14 ruling overturned the Antofagasta Environmental Court's order, issued late last year, and it also ordered...Read More
Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO), the world's second largest miner, is recommending shareholders to vote against a resolution requiring the company to release its direct emissions details and strategies on how its greenhouse gas emissions and those of its customers can be cut.In a letter from chairman Simon Thompson, Rio urged investors to vote against the proposed rule change that would have the miner t...Read More
The major gold miners are grinding higher in a solid upleg, fueling growing interest in this small contrarian sector. They've mostly finished reporting their fourth-quarter results, revealing how they are really faring fundamentally. Collectively the world's biggest gold miners continue to face serious challenges, which often stem from declining production. That makes stock picking more importan...Read More
"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftThe ‘do nothing', or more correctly ‘do little', view from Credit Suisse about leading miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto is summarised in a comment early this week that the "large capRead More
While gold miners have been making substantial profits in recent quarters thanks to rising gold prices and better operational and financial discipline, they continue to seek new ounces via the drill bit to fill their production pipeline. A look at eight majors and juniors exploring for gold worldwide.BARRICK GOLDThe world's largest gold miner Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) is also heavily inv...Read More
Researchers with the University of Aberdeen and the University of Glasgow published a study where they state that an abundance of copper played an equally crucial role to oxygen in helping the rise and spread of the earliest animals 700 million years ago.By analyzing a series of geological records, the scientists were able to prove that the level of copper in the environment increased dramatically...Read More
Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX: TRQ; NYSE: TRQ) reported 2018 income of $394.3 million-a 255.4% jump over 2017's $110.9 million-driven by an increase in gold production and sales from its Oyu Tologi copper-gold mine in Mongolia.Gold production surged 150% year-on-year to 285,000 ounces, while copper production of 159,100 tonnes marked a 1.1% increase over 2017. The income jump was driven by an inc...Read More