It's only 12 January and the copper price is down 8% year to date.March futures in New York dropped to $1.9525 a pound (just over $4,300 a tonne) early on Tuesday and by the close on the Comex continued to languish at levels last seen March 2009.For a sustained period below $2 you have to go back a decade at the early days of the China-induced supercycle.China is responsible for nearly half of glo...Read More
Codelco chairman, chairman Oscar Landerretche. (Image courtesy of University of Chile)Codelco, Chile's state-owned copper miner and the world's largest producer of the metal, should soon review its investment plans in light of historic low prices, chairman Oscar Landerretche has said.In an interview with local news site El D?-namo (in Spanish) last week, the economist said the first step should b...Read More
Image by docstockmedia | Shutterstock.com.New climate change regulations, fraud in e-payment systems, "poison pills", privacy class actions and cybersex in the workplace are among the top 10 legal risks companies operating in Canada will face this year, according to Canadian law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG).In its annual report on the issue, the group outlines those and other key trends, a...Read More
Anglo American's overhaul reflects the dire straits the global mining industry is in these days. (Image: Screenshot from Anglo American video via YouTube)Anglo American (LON:AAL) announced Tuesday it has finally completed its exit from the Middle East by selling its Tarmac business to Colas Moyen Orient, a subsidiary of French engineering and construction company Bouygues Group.The full sale follo...Read More
Greece has delayed construction at Eldorado's Skouries mine and processing plant for over three years. The company is halting most work at the project in response.Canadian miner Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) is suspending work at its mine in northern Greece and laying off 600 workers following protests by local residents and a fresh spat with the country's left-wing government.The Vancouver-b...Read More
Gold is the big exception with managed money futures investors slashing bearish bets on the gold price by 44%After a nice run at the beginning of the new trading year, on Monday on the Comex market in New York, gold futures with February delivery retreated as worries about the global economy and geopolitics overwhelmed financial and commodity markets.In afternoon trade gold was exchanging hands fo...Read More
The world's northernmost mines are all located in just three countries; on Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean you'll find four of them. All are underground coal mines, operating in the rugged, frigid terrain between continental Norway and the North Pole.Further south, in Russia, you'll find Alrosa's diamond mines. Nizhne-Lenskoye, in the Sakha Republic, is the fifth northernmost min...Read More
Image courtesy of Codelco.Copper prices hit Monday a six-year low after more equity losses in Shanghai increased concerns over the Chinese economy, the world's largest consumer of the red metal.The effects on most miners were as dramatic as quick. Diversified miner BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP), the world's largest mining company, reached the lowest in a decade, closing almost 5% down in Sydney to $15.55...Read More
Sometimes a market in turmoil offers opportunity. Independent investment adviser Jayant Bhandari regularly sifts through bourses to find opportunities that maximize his reward for the least amount of risk. Bhandari currently sees two paths to value: companies that were either oversold in heavy tax-loss selling late in 2015 or in the "free upside" offered in arbitrage situations. In this interview...Read More
Miners ending their shift at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine #4 near Richlands, Virginia in 1974. Wearing a red hard hat meant you were new on the job.While the official US payroll numbers released on Friday showing an increase of 292,000 jobs in December came in way above expectations, the mining industry suffered its 12th consecutive month of employment decline.According to the Bureau...Read More
Image: Everett Collection | Shuttersock.comLow commodity prices will continue to be one of the main drivers of political risk for investors this year in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, a new report suggests.According to the 2016 Political Risk Outlook, released Friday by Verisk Maplecroft, there will be little respite for investors from the political instability, civil u...Read More
Lundin Mining is developing a new nickel deposit that could extend the life of its Eagle nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that ramped up to full production in 2015 and is expected to see output gradually decline from this year on, according to an official with the Canadian company."We're aggressively drilling Eagle East, a new deposit, and that's looking quite promising," the o...Read More
Courtesy of: Visual CapitalistTHE FIRST FOUR TRADING DAYS SHOW OPTIMISM FOR 2016 IS IN SHORT SUPPLY.The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.In our review of the economic events of 2015, we noted that the simple turning of a calendar page does not rectify the problems of the previous year.The first week of trading on major exchanges has made this even more clear.CHINA...Read More
The world's number five diversified mining company, Anglo American announced a "radical portfolio restructuring" a month ago. The company with roots going back more than a hundred years to South Africa's gold and diamond fields said it would cut around 85,000 employees, almost two-thirds of its workforce.London-listed Anglo also said it's reducing the number of mines it operates from 55 to the "l...Read More
Fears of a Chinese currency devaluation stalks the copper marketIt's been a brutal new year for copper with March futures in New York losing as much as 4.7% to dip below $2.00 a pound on Thursday before recovering slightly in early afternoon trade. That was the lowest since March 2009 and the fall comes on the back of a 26% decline in 2015. The metal traded below the $2-level only for a brief seve...Read More
Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo. (Image courtesy of Centamin)Toronto and London-listed gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) said Thursday it expects 2016 production from its main Sukari gold mine in Egypt to increase by 7% to 470,000 ounces, as it continues to ramp-up production in expanded areas of the mine.The company, which also aims to reduce all-in-sustaining costs at the opera...Read More
Last year was a horrible year for commodities and the resources sector, but it appears contrarian investing in the sector is alive and well.According to a new report by private capital tracker Preqin, fundraising for natural resources investment reached record levels in 2015, with 62 funds raising a total of $63bn. That was up 14% compared to 2014 and edged past 2013's banner year when more than 1...Read More
Image courtesy of Imperial Metals.Canada's Imperial Metals (TSX:III) became Wednesday the latest copper producer to announce tough measures aimed to weather the effects of low metal prices by suspending operations at its Huckleberry copper mine in British Columbia.The company, which owns 50% of the mine, said it would lay off 100 of its 260 workers, keeping the rest to mill stockpiled ore."While H...Read More
Courtesy of: Visual CapitalistIt's easy to pontificate about what the future may hold, but sometimes it comes with disastrous results. Instead, the best way to get a taste of the future may be to look at the most recent scientific developments that happened in the last year.Today's infographic from Futurism reviews some of the top science news stories from 2015.These include headlines in the field...Read More
The streaming deal has been a lifeline for many mining companies. In fact, 2015 showcased a record number of streaming deals for gold, silver, and copper. The number of transactions doubled from 11 to 27 year-over-year, with the dollar values associated tripling from $1.1 billion to over $4.0 billion!What was once considered a new and innovative way of raising money - the streaming deal has take...Read More