mineral exploration project – commodity prices – mining stock- trade and market

The company IMX Resources is officially opening its Cairn Hill mine in South Australia’s outback today.

The iron ore and copper mine is south of Coober Pedy and will directly employ 150 people and have a life of up to 20 years.

Premier Mike Rann will be at the opening – an event the company’s managing director, Duncan McBain, says proves that South Australia has a strong future in the resource sector.

“We’ll mine down to about 120 metres below ground level in two small pits,” Mr McBain said.

“Potentially it could go underground...

Brazilian mining giant Vale’s second-quarter net profit surged on higher iron ore prices and stronger demand.

Vale, the world’s largest producer and exporter of iron ore and iron pellets, reported a second-quarter net profit of $US3.71 billion, up from $US790 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The miner, which is also the world’s second-largest nickel producer, said revenue for the quarter jumped 95.3 per cent to $US9.93bn, compared with $US5.1bn a year ago.

Prices for iron ore, which provides the bulk of Vale’s revenue, more than doubled in...

Iron ore production fell last year for the first time in seven years but continuing demand for the raw material from the Chinese steel industry ensured that the volume of trade increased again, a United Nations report released today says.

Global production dropped by 6.2 per cent to 1.588 billion tons, according to the report published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in cooperation with the Sweden-based Raw Materials Group.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., North America’s largest iron-ore producer, said it’s still in talks with customers about how they will pay for the steelmaking raw material after a four-decade-old annual price system ended.

Changes to the pricing of iron ore and coking coal are “resulting in a more fluid and uncertain near-term pricing environment for these commodities,” the Cleveland-based company said today in a statement.

Jaguar Mining Enterprises, Inc. today announced that they are completing the patio area which is very important...

Nippon Steel Corp., Japan’s largest steelmaker, will pursue investments in iron ore and coal mines, joining rivals in a bid to curb costs and secure supplies of the steelmaking ingredients.

The company wants to supply 50 percent of its raw material needs by buying stakes in mines or developing new ones “as early as we can,” Executive Vice President Shinichi Taniguchi said March 4 in an interview in Tokyo. Mines partly owned by the mill supply 35 percent of its iron ore and 25 percent of its coking coal needs.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set itself an April 28 deadline for ruling on the $US116 billion ($127bn) West Australian iron ore merger between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, a delay of two months on its target.

Last month, the ACCC said it had delayed its findings on the merger and had requested more information from BHP and Rio.

NMDC Ltd., India’s biggest iron-ore producer, has teamed up with ABS Consulting of Saudi Arabia and Boulder Steel Ltd. to make a $230 million bid for a stake in an Australian iron-ore project owned by Atlas Iron Ltd.

A non-binding offer has been pitched to Atlas Iron for a 70 percent stake, which may be the Ridley project in Western Australia, the Economic Times reported, citing a person it did not name.