Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday December 18, with continued strength in the US dollar index limiting price action, while lead futures gained more than 2% against a backdrop of multi-year lows in LME inventory.Depreciating over 2.5% this afternoon, copper futures closed below $6,000 per tonne for the first time since October 31, while to...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell below $70 per tonne cfr China on Tuesday December 18 amid expectations of more stringent implementation of steelmaking restrictions in China.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $69.03 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $1.44 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $68.83 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $1.44 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $71.58 per tonne cfr Qin...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were lower across the board during morning trading on Tuesday December 18, with a broad sell-off across the complex capping prices, while another fresh inflow of more than 57,000 tonnes of aluminium did little to spur price action. After more than 104,000 tonnes of aluminium inflows this week, including a net inflow of 57,700 tonnes today, the metal's three...Read More
BRITISH COLUMBIA - Toronto-based Seabridge Gold has promising induced potential and drilling results from its 100% owned Iskut gold property 110 km northwest of Stewart. All indications point toward a large copper-gold porphyry system.The results indicate a robust hydrothermal breccia containing abundant clasts of chalcopyrite-pyrite-magnetite in veined intrusive rocks and stock works positioned o...Read More
AUSTRALIA - BHP Group has commissioned the new ramp at its Olympic Dam iron ore-copper-gold mine, and it doubles the haulage capacity for its trucks. The Kalta decline is key to reaching the Southern mine area where BHP is mining high grade copper resources.BHP spent A$250 million to develop the Southern mine area, and another $40 million on the ramp. The first ore from the area was produced in mi...Read More
Industrial metals came under renewed pressure on Tuesday after a defiant speech from China's president Xi Jinping diminished hopes of an early settlement in the top commodity importer's intensifying trade dispute with the US.President Jinping used the occasion of the 40-year anniversary of the start of China's "Reform and Opening Up" to congratulate the stewardship of the communist party and reaf...Read More
Constantine Metal Resources (TSXV: CEM; US-OTC: CNSNF) has boosted the overall tonnage at its Palmer polymetallic project in southeast Alaska by 43% with a maiden resource for the project's AG zone.The AG zone, located 3 km from the main Palmer deposit, contains 4.25 million inferred tonnes grading 4.64% zinc, 0.12% copper, 0.96% lead, 119.5 grams silver, 0.53 gram gold and 34% barite, or 9.04% zi...Read More
The Glencore-controlled mining company Katanga Mining has today agreed to pay USD $22 million to settle allegations by Canadian regulators that it had failed to comply with disclosure requirements, including that it had not properly described risks of doing business with a controversial middleman in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Several of Katanga's current and former directors and executive...Read More
Glencore Plc's billionaire head of copper trading, Aristotelis Mistakidis, was among executives fined and banned from being a director by Canada after admitting that its Congolese copper and cobalt unit misstated how much metal it mined.Mistakidis, who is retiring from Glencore at the end of this year, was hit with a C$2.45 million ($1.8 million) fine and a four-year director ban in Ontario at a p...Read More
JAKARTA, Dec 18 - Indonesia's state-owned miner PT Inalum expects to finalise a deal this week to take majority control of the local unit of global mining giant Freeport McMoRan Inc, the company's chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.The deal will close "hopefully this week", said Budi Gunadi Sadikin, adding that a conclusion looked "highly likely."Inalum was proposing to sell a 10 percent stak...Read More
WINTHROP, Washington, Dec 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Although the wooden boardwalk and turn-of-the-century saloons reflect Winthrop's Old West history as a mining town, residents these days are counting down to a year-end deadline that could see the government ban extraction there for 20 years.Dec. 29 will mark the culmination of a battle by citizens of the Methow Valley, a constellation of...Read More
Pacific Empire Minerals (TSXV: PEMC) announced that it has entered into an option agreement with a group of vendors and consolidated a land position of over 90 square kilometres in the Babine copper-gold porphyry district in central British Columbia, Canada.In a media statement, the prospect generator said that the staked ground was added to its Paragon project, which also includes the company's W...Read More
Australia's largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) has upped its holdings in Ecuador-focused explorer SolGold (LON, TSX:SOLG), which is developing the Cascabel copper-gold project in the country's north.The deal further bolsters Newcrest's position in SolGold against No.2 shareholder, BHP, as it raises its stake in the junior miner to 15.33% from 13.83%.In September, BHP bought Guyana G...Read More
Jiulian Resources (TSX-V: JLR) announced that it has received a five-year area-based permit from the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to establish up to 60 drill sites and four kilometres of exploration trail for core drilling on its Big Kidd Property in British Columbia.Big Kidd is a 4,056-hectare property located 25 kilometres east of Merritt. Historic drilling...Read More
SASKATCHEWAN - Fifteen kilometres from the rapidly advancing Wheeler River project, Vancouver's Skyharbour Resources is finding high grades at the Moore uranium project.Drill hole ML18-14 intersected high grade uranium mineralization within the Main Maverick zone consisting of 3.11% uranium oxide over 1.8 metres within an interval of 15.2 metres containing 0.56% uranium oxide. This is one of the b...Read More
The 2019 exploration drilling plan for the Wheler River uranium project. (Image: Denison Mines Corp.)SASKATCHEWAN -Denison Mines Corp. and its partners in the Wheeler River uranium joint venture have agreed to spend $10.3 million to advance the project next year. A major undertaking will be to initiate the environmental assessment and engineering studies.The target of this activity will be the Pho...Read More
A map of Skyharbour's uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin. (Image: Skyharbour Resources)SASKATCHEWAN - Fifteen kilometres from the rapidly advancing Wheeler River project, Vancouver's Skyharbour Resources is finding high grades at the Moore uranium project.Drill hole ML18-14 intersected high grade uranium mineralization within the Main Maverick zone consisting of 3.11% uranium oxide over 1.8 m...Read More
AUSTRALIA - BHP Group has commissioned the new ramp at its Olympic Dam iron ore-copper-gold mine, and it doubles the haulage capacity for its trucks. The Kalta decline is key to reaching the Southern mine area where BHP is mining high grade copper resources.BHP spent A$250 million to develop the Southern mine area, and another $40 million on the ramp. The first ore from the area was produced in mi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished trade dropped in November, according todata from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. Exports fell 11% amid a loweraverage price, with volumes down 1%. Rough shipments also declined. However,polished trading is up for the year to date, with rough mostly flat. Millions unless stated otherwiseRead More
RAPAPORT... De Beers sold $540 million of rough diamonds in its Decembercycle, buoyed by the return of Indian manufacturers from their seasonal holidayshutdown, the company said Tuesday. Revenue from the 10th cycle, including last week's sight inBotswana, jumped 22% from $442 million during the previous cycle. Proceedsclimbed 19% versus a year ago. Sales "continued to be in line with expectations...Read More