Mining Companies Exploration and Investment News

The Australian sharemarket closed three per cent higher for the week, as middling-to-positive leads from European stocks and Wall Street culminated in a solid weekly close, after China rejected reports it was considering reviewing its European bond holdings.

For the week, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 3.15 per cent to 4,457.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index jumped 7.58 per cent to 4,479 points.

AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver said it looked like a correction in equities and commodities prices was under way, and a decent rally was beginning.
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An international consortium that includes India’s biggest iron-ore producer, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), has made a $230-million bid for a 70 per cent stake in a mine owned by Australia’s junior miner Atlas Iron Limited.
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Essar Group said its purchase of Trinity Coal Corp., the Indian company’s first overseas coal mine acquisition, will help lock in raw materials with coal and iron ore prices poised to rise as the global economy recovers.

The $600 million buyout of West Virginia-based Trinity raises Essar’s total U.S. investment to $4 billion, Chief Executive Officer Prashant Ruia said. (continue reading…)

Crude oil for April delivery was little changed at $79.57 a barrel as of 12:28 p.m. London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar strengthened against the euro.

The dollar reversed earlier losses to strengthen to $1.3529 against the euro. A stronger dollar may reduce the appeal of commodities as a hedge against inflation.
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A Jefferies analyst downgraded Basic Energy Services Inc. Monday, saying weak natural gas prices may slow growth at the oil and gas company.

Activity levels and profit margins in Basic Energy’s natural gas business “are still likely to struggle in a $5 natural gas environment,” analyst Judson Bailey wrote in a research note.
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Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen said the U.S. economy will operate below potential this year and next and still needs low interest rates to gain strength.

“When the day comes to start raising rates again, we have tools at the ready,” Yellen said in the text of a speech today in San Diego. “For the time being, the economy still needs the support of extraordinarily low rates.”
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For the third quarter, Pfizer’s net income increased to $2.88 billion or $0.43 per share from $2.28 billion or $0.34 per share in the year-ago period, driven by lower one-time charges as well as cost-reduction initiatives. Quarterly revenues dropped 3% to $11.62 billion from $11.97 billion in the comparable quarter last year.
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Canadian mining companies are facing allegations of abuse and assault on local citizens in dozens of developing nations.

The companies say they have done nothing wrong – mining copper, gold and other metals brings only prosperity to these poor regions.
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