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

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.

China steel company leadership prepared to have a meeting with the mining company’s largest iron ore supplier to determine the...

Reporting from Beijing – China has indicted four employees of the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto for alleged bribery and theft of commercial secrets, a move that paves the way for a trial in a case that has already elicited widespread international criticism.

China indicted four employees of Rio Tinto Group, including the Australian head of its iron ore unit in the country, on trade secrets and bribery charges, signaling it won’t back down from confrontation with global business.

The cash price of iron ore delivered to China, the world’s biggest buyer, rose to the highest in more than a year amid what Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty said was “panic buying” by steel mills.

The cost of 62 percent iron-content ore delivered to Tianjin port increased 2.9 percent to $124.80 a metric ton yesterday, according to The Steel Index.

Iron ore prices have surged to near a 1½-year high after India, the world’s third largest exporter, slapped an export tax on the commodity used to produce steel.

The imposition of the 5 per cent export duty over Christmas, combined with strong global demand and low domestic production in China, have pushed iron ore prices up almost 30 per cent in the past month, traders and brokers said.