Chinese miners have been aggressively scouting for overseas mining acquisitions this year and are expected to continue bidding for strategic assets amid a commodity downturn that has pushed top miners to shore up their balance sheets by off-loading operations.Only from January to June this year, China-backed funds and companies snapped up $4.5 billion worth of overseas mining assets, or 18.2% more...Read More
North American stock markets continued to climb on Friday, while the dollar ascended a four-month high, causing downward pressure on precious and base metals prices.As the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indices all finished up, copper for September delivery on the Comex in New York slumped 2.6 cents or 1.2 percent to $2.23 a pound. Gold was down 0.67% to $1,322.39 an ounce, along with silver, w...Read More
First was Latin America, now Africa. No matter where the projects are located, if they are promising copper or gold assets, Chinese investors are coming for it.The imminent acquisition of Freeport-McMoRan's Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo is just the latest sign of a growing trend, as analysts expect the Asian nation to continue its quest for a steady supply of metals, ma...Read More
Brazil's Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world's No.1 iron-ore producer, saw a slight decline in second-quarter output, but still managed to beat analysts' estimates, keeping a new annual production record in sight.The Rio de Janeiro-based miner said it produced 86.8 million tonnes of iron ore in the April-to-June period, down 2.8% from a year earlier, when it hit a record high.Compared with the first quart...Read More
Source: Capital Economics - July 19, 2016.Source: Capital EconomicsThere was a general pullback in industrial metals and mining on Wednesday on the back of a stronger dollar and lingering worries about global growth. But the dip doesn't mean that the upward momentum is now broken.There hasn't been a lack of skeptics about prospects for the sector and at the start of the year producers themselves m...Read More
Shares in Newmont Mining was trading higher after hours on Wednesday after the company announced second quarter results that beat analysts estimates.Following a broad-based sell-off for gold miners during regular trade on the back of a weaker gold price, Newmont shares added 1.8% after the release of its financials. The company is now worth $20.7 billion on the New York Stock Exchange after risi...Read More
Shares in Anglo American (LON:AAL) collapsed Wednesday after the miner cut its annual target for copper due to heavy snow at its Los Bronces operation in Chile, and also revealed output declines in almost all the commodities it mines.The stock was under pressure on Wednesday, trading 10.31% down to 729.7p at 1:40 pm GMT, the most it has fallen in more than three weeks, following Anglo's announceme...Read More
BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) announced Tuesday the company exceeded full year 2016 production guidance for petroleum, copper and metallurgical coal, but came in slightly below its iron ore production target.The suspension of its Samarco joint venture with Vale saw BHP's output on attributable basis miss its revised target by 2 million tonnes at 227 tonnes for the year to end June. The world's numb...Read More
Trevali Mining (TSE: TV) jumped 5.1% on Tuesday after the company announced expansion of high-grade silver-lead-zinc mineralization at the Magistral North and Oyon Zones at its Santander zinc mine in Peru.In lunchtime trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange the Vancouver-based mid-tier producer was trading at its highs for the day amid a generally weak day for mining stocks. Around 1 million share...Read More
Canadian companies paid a total of US$32.6 billion for foreign businesses in the Energy, Mining & Utilities (EMU) sector during the first half of the year, which represents a 100.6% rise in value over the total paid in the same period last year, a new report released Tuesday shows.The volume of deals, however, dropped by nearly half in the first six months of the year from 31 transactions in 2015,...Read More
Mick Davis' X2 Resources, the mining fund once touted as the driver of much-needed investment into the mining industry during the worst of the commodities price rout, is set to go under major changes after failing to close a single deal since launched in 2013.Rumours circulated early this year that X2 had lost backers and was facing a looming overhaul. But it wasn't until the WSJ.com reported Fri...Read More
According to a new study by the UN's Conference on Trade and Development some commodity dependent developing countries "are losing as much as 67% of their exports worth billions of dollars to trade misinvoicing".Trade misinvoicing - when export and import data between two countries do not align - is thought to be "one of the largest drivers of illicit financial flows from developing countries, so...Read More
A structural problem detected at the rather new London Metal Exchange (LME) offices in Finsbury Square, has forced traders to momentarily relocate to a Chelmsford business park, east of London.The exchange, where $12 trillion of copper and other metals change hands each year, is one of Europe's last open outcry trading floors.The bourse, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals...Read More
Botswana's state-owned BCL, the country's biggest copper and nickel miner, will continue to receive about $130 million (1.4 billion pula) a year, even if the company has to stop mining, the country's vice president said.Speaking to Bloomberg News, Mokgweetsi Masisi said the copper and nickel producer, which employs as many as 5,000 people, noted the country will sell its stake in BCL as soon as...Read More
Choppy seas off the coast of Chile caused widespread delays to copper shipments from the world's top producer in the second half of June, potentially supporting prices in a market grappling with oversupply.Cargoes were stranded at ports as stormy weather prevented ships from loading, said miners in Chile, including world No.1 Codelco.That could buttress prices in the short-term, although any impac...Read More
The U.S. Geological Survey is using a familiar exploration technology to search for copper deposits in remote locations of Alaska.Starting in 2014, researchers with USGS began studying the remote eastern Alaskan Range where copper porphyry deposits are known to exist, using hyperspectral surveying. The technique employs aircraft equipped with instruments that emit light. When the light hits a mat...Read More
The Unites States is seeking the support of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in pressuring China to remove export duties on certain minerals that give it an unfair trade advantage.Saying that China agreed to remove duties ranging from 5% to 20% on antimony, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, magnesia, talc, tantalum and tin when it joined the WTO 15 years ago, Washington filed a new WTO challenge...Read More
It's a familiar story for mine developers, when their projects overlay or sit near to sensitive ecosystems. Environmental groups state their intention to protect the animal or plant species at risk, sometimes taking legal action to oppose the project. Many times they are successful, especially with the strict regulatory framework found in the United States, where baseline studies are known to tak...Read More
Canada's Hudbay Minerals' (TSX, NYSE:HBM) proposed Rosemont copper mine in Arizona scored a key legal victory this week after a Court of Appeals overturned Tuesday a 2015 ruling blocking its air quality permit.The appeals panel's decision, Tucson.com reports, eliminates one of three pivotal regulatory hurdles still blocking the $1.5 billion mine's go-ahead.While the project is now heading into w...Read More
The recent appointment of a Chinese government official to the board Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.A & TCK.B) (NYSE:TCK), Canada's largest diversified miner, has some worried about sovereignty issues in the country's resource sector.Canada has no regulations regarding members of foreign governments sitting on local companies' boards, but it does require at least 25% of the members to be Canadian citiz...Read More