Mining News Archives

Good times for Greater Sudbury, for its business community and for its residents, are going to keep on rolling, said Fred Stanford, president Vale Inco Ontario Operations Thursday.

MMC "Norilsk Nickel" announces preliminary consolidated production results for 2007 at its Polar and Kola Divisions in Russia and international operations in Finland, Australia, Botswana and South Africa.

Aluminum, until recently the dunce of the metals camp, has recently jumped to the head of its class.

Goldcorp Inc said on Thursday it is selling its 108 million common shares of Silver Wheaton Corp -- a 48 percent stake -- to underwriters in a bought deal, at a price of $14.50 per share.

Fourth Quarter Highlights - Produced coal revenue increased 5.3 percent to $496.6 million - Produced coal tons sold increased 3.2 percent - Average cash margin per ton increased 25.8 percent - EBITDA increased ...

The National Labor Relations Board wants a federal court to force Massey Energy to rehire 85 United Mine Workers members and negotiate a new union contract at a mine it bought out of bankruptcy in 2004.

The NLRB contends in a petition filed Thursday that Massey and a subsidiary will keep violating federal labor laws at the eastern Kanawha County mine. The petition asks the U.S. District Court in Charleston for an injunction. ...

Teck Cominco today responded to market rumours concerning its Red Dog mine and provided updated production guidance for its Highland Valley mine.

Rio Tinto Alcan is pushing ahead with its $2-billion plan to modernize its Kitimat smelter after a favorable ruling this week from the British Columbia Utilities Commission, the company said today.

The company, Kestrel Joint Venture, is 80%-owned by Rio Tinto and 20% by Mitsui, and the two companies will share the development costs according to their respective stakes, Mitsui said in a statement.

Rio Tinto has set a cracking pace for the planned sale of its high-grade Kintyre uranium deposit in Western Australia.

London-listed Chilean miner Antofagasta said on Thursday its copper output in the fourth quarter rose 15 percent on the previous quarter due to higher throughput and better ore grades.

The Clive Palmer-chaired Gladstone Pacific Nickel Ltd has executed a memorandum of understanding for the development of its $3.65 billion Gladstone nickel project with one of China's largest conglomerates.

The purchase by China's Shougang Corporation of a 19.73 per cent stake in emerging Western Australian iron ore producer Mt Gibson Iron will provide an early national interest test for new-boy federal Treasurer ...

IAMGOLD Corporation reports that the French Government through a declaration issued on behalf of the President's Office has advised that the President will not approve the final permits necessary to commence construction of the Camp Caiman project located in French Guiana.

No technical, environmental or legal reasoning for the decision was provided in the declaration. ...

Peabody Energy Corp. on Thursday said net income fell 80% on a $175 million loss from discontinued operations, while the coal giant's operating income rose 5% as it boosted the tons it sold in the period.

Gold Fields Limited is disappointed to confirm that Eskom has informed the Company that authorisation to increase electricity load from 80% to 90% by this evening, has been temporarily withdrawn in order to ...

Rio Tinto's planned Coega aluminium smelter in South Africa is progressing despite the country's power crisis, the firm said on Wednesday.

Dick Whittington, President and CEO of Farallon Resources Ltd. , is pleased to provide the results of a recent resource estimate for the G-9 deposit at the Campo Morado polymetallic project in Guerrero State, ...

Chinese miners eager to feed a roaring economy with raw materials are buying some of the last remaining big mines in Latin America, where risks are lower than China's other commodities sources like Africa.

......Chinese state-owned companies can open new mines at up to 50 percent less cost than Western companies, importing everything from Chinese-made vehicles to lower-paid, highly experienced engineers, giving them an advantage in these emerging markets.

....Beijing's foreign reserves of $1.3 trillion give state-owned companies a massive war chest, allowing them to buy up companies.....

Iron ore producer Mount Gibson Iron Ltd is investigating whether various Chinese parties that have taken a substantial stake in the company are associated.

Alumina Ltd. said Thursday its annual net profit fell 15 percent due to rising costs and a stronger Australian dollar.

Lundin Mining Corporation advises that it has been informed by its tax advisors in Portugal that there has been misinterpretation of applicable tax legislation relating to certain tax rate reductions that ...

Utah's Headwaters Inc. had a rough start in the first quarter but it continues to forecast it will earn 95 cents to $1.35 per share during its 2008 fiscal year, even in the face of a weakening national economy.

...The company's coal-cleaning technology is designed to treat the more than 6,000 massive heaps of low-grade coal known as "gob piles" that are found throughout the coal mining regions of the country.

J Gold Fields Limited today announced net earnings for the December 2007 quarter of R1,938 million, compared with restated net earnings of R429 ...

Owners of the Kensington gold mine near Juneau are pursuing another outlet to dispose of mine waste but keeping open their legal options for a rejected plan.

Gold Fields, the world's fourth-largest gold producer, on Thursday warned that it may be forced to close shafts and restructure as a result of Eskom's request that the mining industry reduce its power use by ...

Platinum miner Zimplats Holdings said on Thursday its revenue jumped 57% in the last quarter of 2007 on the back of higher production, but concerns remain over power supply problems.

Rio Tinto Alcan is eyeing an even heftier price tag for the $2-billion modernization of its antiquated Kitimat aluminum smelter, as it aims to cope with the cost echoes of B.C.'s construction boom.

Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation , a subsidiary of Canadian-Dominican mining company Barrick Gold, Inc.

Citing rising costs and technological advances since the project was first announced in December 2003, U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced a restructured approach to the FutureGen project.

De Beers has resumed production at two out of its six mines shut down by a power shortage in South Africa last week.

Grupo Mexico said on Wednesday its Southern Copper mining division would produce 635,000 tonnes of copper in 2008, 7.3 percent more than in 2007, as the giant Cananea mine recovers from a long strike.

All three conditions set by Rio Tinto Alcan for the Kitimat aluminum smelter modernization have now been met.

Mittal Steel USA, a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal , canceled the agreement it had to sell its Sparrows Point , Maryland , steel mill to the E2 Acquisition Corporation at the direction of a court-appointed trustee ...

Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. is so concerned about the worldwide shortage of the giant tires it needs for the massive trucks and loaders it uses at its mines that it is lending a Japanese tire-maker $35-million ...

BHP Billiton , one of South Africa's largest coal producers and exporters, has bought anywhere from 300,000-500,000 tonnes of export coal in order to catch up with delayed deliveries to state utility Eskom, ...

A total of 55,447 wet metric tons of laterite nickel ore at an average grade of 1.49% Ni (approximately 544 tonnes contained nickel on a dry basis) was shipped to Australia and China. Shipments were impacted by the wet season on Palawan Island and high sea swells. ...

Capital Gold has notified AngloGold Ashanti North America that pursuant to the terms of the Stock Purchase Option Agreement dated effective December 15, 2000, between AngloGold and Capital Gold Corporation, ...

China's financial capital saw fresh snowfall Wednesday as the impact of unusually wintry weather deepened, highlighting the vulnerabilities of the country's booming economy.

Rio Tinto Alcan has announced a £45 (US$90) million investment in the modernization of its Lochaber plant, in Scotland. The modernization project will see new hydroelectric turbo-generators installed to power the smelter, ensuring the increased use of clean renewable energy for aluminum production at the plant. The modernization project is set to begin in 2009 and should be completed by 2012..

The death toll from a gas explosion last week in an illegal mine in northern China has risen to 25, state media said Wednesday.

Texas lost out last month when a government-sponsored zero-emissions coal plant went to Illinois, but its bid could be revived because the project ...

Celite Corp. announced Tuesday that it is beginning another round of layoffs, this one significantly larger than the last and equaling about half of the company's workforce.

British Columbia's utilities regulator has approved an electricity sales agreement between Crown-owned B.C. Hydro and Alcan Inc.

Anglo Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer, on Wednesday said it was able to operate its mines at full capacity with 80% of its power needs.

Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton Ltd. said Wednesday it has struck a 10-year iron ore supply deal with Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China's biggest steel maker.

West Virginia's Supreme Court chief justice has recused himself from a second case involving Massey Energy Co., after European vacation photos highlighted questions about his friendship with the coal operator's ...

Goldcorp Inc. may be on the verge of selling its 49 percent stake in Silver Wheaton Corp , the Financial Post newspaper said on Tuesday, while analysts agreed the timing is right for a sale.

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to yank its support for the FutureGen project, a highly-touted a $1.75 billion experimental coal-fueled power plant that is supposed to be built in Mattoon, Ill.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency manipulated scientific research to play down the danger posed by formaldehyde in trailers issued to hurricane victims, according to an investigation by congressional ...

...."Any level of exposure to formaldehyde may pose a cancer risk, regardless of duration," De Rosa wrote. "Failure to communicate this issue is possibly misleading and a threat to public health."

India's National Thermal Power Corp. says it plans to invest more than $1 billion to buy overseas coal assets over the next few years.

Vancouver-based diamond exploration company Stornoway Diamond Corporation has announced that its diamond recovery results from a 31 tonne trench sample extracted from the Hibou dyke at its Foxtrot Property ...

U.S. Steel Corp., the second-largest U.S.-based steelmaker, said fourth-quarter profit fell 88 percent as domestic prices declined and maintenance in Europe and North America cut shipments.

Consol Energy Inc., one of the nation's largest coal miners, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit fell as a result of costs stemming from a roof collapse that shut down one of its mines for the entire ...

As young adults from the East race to high-paying jobs in the West, they leave behind hollowed-out towns worried for the future.

Austria's A-Tec is close to purchasing troubled Serbian copper complex RTB Bor despite union resistance, officials and sources close to the deal said on Tuesday.

China Minmetals announced here on Tuesday that it has successfully bought a majority stake in Northern Peru Copper of Canada, thus acquiring the property of El Galeno copper and gold mine and Hilorico gold mine ...

Profit season for the mega-miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto has given the Rio camp the chance to build a case for BHP to improve its proposed scrip-only offer from an already rejected 3-for-1 to something more ...

Two of State-owned Eskom's coal suppliers said on Monday that they were supplying the fuel according to their contractual obligations with the power utility, while another, world number-one diversified-miner ...

After shelving the massive Galore Creek mining project in northwestern British Columbia because of soaring cost estimates, the companies behind it are trying to revive the development of one of the world's ...

Cameco Corp said on Monday it could cost up to C$20 million to clean up contaminated soil at its uranium conversion plant in Port Hope, Ontario, up from an initial estimate of C$3 million.

Canada is considering a national security test for foreign takeovers of Canadian companies amid public concern over a series of deals involving the sale of some of the country's most iconic companies to foreign ...

Harmony Gold Mining Company said it was investigating the feasibility of re-mining some of its old tailings dams at its operations in the Welkom area.

Coal and coal stocks were as hot as China was cold Tuesday, with the country's power plants and transport networks paralyzed by severe winter weather that has killed 24 people and caused about 22.1 billion yuan ...

Coal & Allied Industries Ltd.'s second-half profit dropped 33 percent as port constraints cut export capacity and drove up costs at the Australian coal producer controlled by Rio Tinto Group.

Anglo American on Tuesday said its coal mines are back in operation, while all process operations remain on standby and no refined metals are being produced at its platinum mines.

BHP Billiton says it is not to blame for delaying an inquiry into a fatal workplace accident on January 17 at the Cannington mine near Cloncurry in north-west Queensland.

...BHP says employees of the company, EROC, repeatedly refused to provide any information about the accident until lawyers from the contract firm arrived at the mine site.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley will manage the sale of Mittal Steel Co. NV's Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore, a court-appointed trustee said Friday.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS) will manage the sale of Mittal Steel Co. NV’s (PINK: AMSAF) Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore, a court-appointed trustee has told The Associated Press

Power shortages and icy weather have halted production in ferroalloys plants in Guizhou and are disrupting operations at copper smelters in eastern China, plants officials said on Monday.

It was reported in the Canadian Mining Journal that :

Zambian authorities have given the go-ahead to restart production at the leach project belonging to MOPANI COPPER MINES. Production was interrupted early in January due to a leak of pregnant leach solution. The solution was suspected of contaminating local drinking water.

CONSOL Energy Inc. mine rescue team personnel entered the Buchanan Mine near Mavisdale, Va.

Diamonds are not a girl's or a boy's best friend in Australian resource share investment terms today, with the second largest company taken over by a foreign outfit and Rio Tinto keeping a low profile on its ...

China's booming economy is expected to consume more than half of the world's key resources within a decade, according to Rio Tinto PLC , reports The Times.

Rio Tinto has set its firm eyes on India. The Anglo-Australian mining giant is reviving plans to develop iron ore mines in Orissa in joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation , it is also ready to sell ...

South Africa's gold mining industry hopes to resume production by the end of the week after power outages forced an unprecedented shutdown Friday and prompted concern about investment and growth prospects for ...

When a uranium boom hit this former logging and farming community in the mid-1970s, housing was so scarce people slept in campgrounds and cemeteries.

The additional resources represent the equivalent of an additional 11 million mt of contained copper metal, the company said.

Advocates of "clean coal" technology, including Capitol Hill lawmakers and several presidential candidates, should take note of a record fine imposed this month against the nation's fourth-largest coal ...

Coal rose to a record in Asia and also advanced in Europe as floods in Australia and snow storms in China restricted output, spurring generators to secure supply.

Impala Platinum Holdings on Monday said production stoppages at Impala Rustenburg due to power restrictions translated into a loss of about 3 500 ounces of platinum per day.

Hydrogen Energy, jointly owned by BP PLC and Rio Tinto PLC , said it plans to construct a US$ 2 billion hydrogen-fired power generation plant in the United Arab Emirates.

An Argentine unit of Rio Tinto expects to start building its $900-million potash mine this year, but production is not seen until 2011 -- later than originally planned, the project manager said on Friday.

Southern Copper, the leading global metals producer, informed that its fourth-quarter net profit fell 53 % to $311 mln from $655 mln in the same quarter a year ago.

MT ARTHUR has applied to go underground two weeks after the BHP Billiton owned mine secured project approval from the NSW Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor to extend its southern pit.

Corruption is a key factor in the frequency of horrific accidents in China's notoriously deadly coal mines, the country's top workplace safety official said yesterday...

.."Graft and trading power for money still exist among a small number of government employees........

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd., Africa's biggest gold producers, kept their South African mines closed for a second day as an electricity shortage threatened growth in the continent's biggest ...

Princess Beverly Coal Co. , a subsidiary of Ashland, Ky.-based Horizon Natural Resources , is closing its Princess Beverly mine in Kanawha and Raleigh counties, W. Va.

Coeur Alaska, the company working to open the Kensington gold mine, has submitted an updated plan of operations to the U.S. Forest Service.

“Yamana has a portfolio approach, so to the extent that one project is coming in a little bit more expensively or perhaps less production, another might come in with a lower cost or more production.”

- Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI) expects more production increases at its El Penon mine in Chile, after confirming gold production at that property should rise above 500,000 ounces in 2010.

The increase, stemming from the discovery of a high-grade vein in November, shows that Yamana has the potential "to increase the resource, not by the 1.1 million ounces that we show, but by another 1.5 million ounces based on the history and the practice at El Penon," CEO and chairman Peter Marrone said in an interview Wednesday. Read more

“We are pleased and encouraged by the initial payoff in the hard work”

Nucor Corp.'s fourth-quarter profit fell 10 percent, the company said Thursday, but the earnings at the steelmaker and scrap metal recycler still surpassed analysts expectations. via Canadian Business Magazine

But we're not going to be the player that actually turns the situation around if they've got a shortage," Wright said in an interview.The coldest, snowiest winter in decades has caused power shortages and left ...

Federal researchers have concluded that airtight refuge chambers could save trapped miners and merit installation in the nation's 731 underground coal mines.

Most El Pasoans have known only one ASARCO over the years, but, for nearly a decade, that hasn't been the case.

Mexican miners agreed to a 9 percent pay increase at Goldcorp Inc's Nukay mine in central Mexico, ruling out a threatened strike at the small underground gold deposit, the union said on Friday.

Peabody Energy, the world's largest private coal company, is joining with a Massachusetts firm to develop coal-to-natural gas plants in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. via KRDO-TV Colorado Springs

“Importantly, shareholders were rewarded during the year with a substantial increase in the market value of AK Steel.”

AK Steel Holding Corp. said Tuesday it swung to a fourth-quarter profit from the year-ago quarter, when it took a hefty one-time employee health care benefit charge during a nearly 13-month lockout at its ... via CANOE