JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia hopes to finalize contract talks with Freeport McMoRan Inc over the Grasberg copper mine by June, although divestment issues are still unresolved, a mining ministry official said on Thursday.Indonesia and Freeport formed a framework agreement in August to transfer the company's rights to Grasberg to a new mine license system from an existing contract of work. Under th...Read More
The world's mining sector is firing on all cylinders again, and one of it's biggest investors can't wait to get paid.After five years of under-performance, a combination of synchronous global growth and under-investment in new supply has driven up commodity prices, increasing cash flow and profit margins for the world's biggest mining companies, according to BlackRock Inc.'s Evy Hambro."When those...Read More
(Bloomberg) - Electric vehicles could hold the key to BHP Billiton Ltd. finally finding a buyer for its unwanted nickel operations.The world's top miner is accelerating plans to transform Nickel West in Western Australia into a linchpin of the global supply chain for electric vehicle batteries. The switch in focus promises to woo new suitors after an aborted 2014 attempt to sell the business, a su...Read More
US Army Corps of Engineers' acceptance of wholly-owned Pebble Limited Partnership's Clean Water Act 404 permitting documentation in January 2018 for Pebble, provides a basis for the Alaska copper-gold company to move into a long-awaited objective and transparent Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) phase for an actual project in the state's Bristol Bay region - a process under which it can d...Read More
Canada's Pancontinental Gold Corporation (TSXV: PUC), a company whose focus is on the Jefferson gold project in South Carolina, wants to expand its presence in the market for key battery metals.The Toronto-based firm announced today that it has entered into an option agreement with 2522962 Ontario Incorporated to acquire a 100% interest in the Montcalm West Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project, located 65...Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo may soon more than double the tax mining companies operating in the country pay on exports of cobalt, a key component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars and mobile phones.The African nation, responsible for about two thirds of global cobalt output, has been evaluating the measure since last month, when a major revision to the 2002 Mining Code was...Read More
The government of Boungaville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, has set an indefinite freeze on plans to restart mining at one of the world's biggest open-pit copper operations, shut by a civil war in 1989.Authorities fear the reopening of Panguna mine, donated by Rio Tinto in 2016, could open old wounds, as landowners voted last month on whether or not Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) -...Read More
Shares in gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) shot up more than 6% Wednesday after the company published fourth-quarter results that slightly exceeded full-year production guidance, and vowed to lift output again in 2018.The Egypt-based company generated 544,658 ounces of gold in 2017, compared to the expected 540,000 ounces. Centamin is now targeting 580,000 ounces in production for 2018, up...Read More
Most people have heard of the DRC, but might not know exactly where to find it on the map of Africa, even if the DRC is the second-largest country on the continent at 2 344 858km ?. Algeria is the largest country in Africa, covering close to 2 381 741km ? of North Africa. In stark contrast to Algeria, of which almost 90% is desert, the DRC straddles the equator, and more than 60% of its surfac...Read More
The rally in Gold and gold mining stocks easily surpassed our expectations and targets. The strength has been far more than we anticipated. The gold stocks blew past their 200-day moving averages while Gold blew past $1300/oz. Now it is time to take a technical look and focus on the key support and resistance targets.The strength of the rebound pushed the miners well beyond their 200-day moving av...Read More
Chile's Codelco, the world's top copper producer, announced today that it will invest $250 million to modify the shape of the current pit at its Andina mine, located in the Valpara?-so region. The goal of the plan is to redirect mineral extraction toward zones where there are no glaciers, while still maintaining the size of the mine and expected output. In a media statement, Codelco said that ther...Read More
Base and precious metals miner Hudbay Minerals (TSX, NYSE:HBM) has agreed to buy a series of mining properties in southern Peru near its Constancia copper mine, which will see the Canadian company expanding its footprint in the country, the world's second largest producer of the red metal.The Toronto-based miner has now the option to buy a 100% interest in the Caballito (formerly Katanga) and Mar...Read More
Brazil's Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world's largest iron ore and nickel miner, has officially closed the sale of its fertilizer business to US-based Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS), the No.1 producer of phosphate fertilizer, in a deal worth about $1.4 billion, considerably less than the $2.5bn originally estimated.The transaction, part of Vale's strategy to cut debt and focus on its core businesses, excludes t...Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned miner, G?(C)camines, is calling the government to update the 16-year-old mining code, arguing it currently benefits foreign firms more than local producers or the country itself.The company, which is heavily indebted and has consistently failed to meet production targets as of late, said in a statement it was evident the World Bank-supported Mining C...Read More
KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) (OTCQX:IVPAF) Executive Chairman Robert Friedland and Chief Executive Officer Lars-Eric Johansson announced today that ongoing upgrading work at the Mwadingusha hydropower plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has almost tripled the plant's interim power output from 11 to 32 megawatts (MW)....Read More
DUBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - An affiliate of Qatari conglomerate Aamal Co plans to build three factories to produce copper wires, aluminium bars and drums for cables, projects that could make the country more self-reliant in the face of an embargo by other Arab states.The factories will be established by Senyar Industries Qatar Holding, owned 50 percent by Aamal and 50 percent by Egyptian cable maker...Read More
An independent study of the tax rate paid by the Australian minerals industry shows mining paid an effective tax rate of 51 per cent in 2015-16 in company tax and royalties - the second-highest tax ratio recorded since the survey began nine years ago.Deloitte Access Economics' Minerals Industry Tax Survey 2017, based on a survey of 25 Australian mining companies, provides an independent and robust...Read More
BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) - As China tightens restrictions on imports of foreign waste, Chinese metal recyclers and even smelters like Jiangxi Copper Co are increasingly looking to use Southeast Asian countries as an alternative location for the processing of copper scrap.China relies on imports for around half of its scrap copper needs but told the World Trade Organization last year that it would...Read More
Valor Resources Limited is pleased to report an updated JORC Mineral Resource Estimate for the Berenguela CopperSilver Project. The updated Resource Estimate includes an 80% increase in total tonnage, as well as a maiden Measured Resources Estimate. Comparisons between the Resource Estimate published in October 2017 and this updated Mineral Resource Estimate can be seen from the two tables on...Read More
The Peruvian government might have to deal with more mining-related social protests in 2018, says a risk brief published today by Verisk Maplecroft.According to the firm, if 2017 saw several projects slowing down or stopping due to the 171 formally registered conflicts that took place throughout the country, the approval of the supreme decree 042-2017 in December, which relaxes the environmental p...Read More