Hong Kong Mining Investment Professionals Association 香港礦業投資專業協會

09/01/2014

Indonesia Ban on Exports of Laterite, Bauxite and Copper Concentrates

Indonesia is about to announce export ban of unprocessed minerals in Jan 12 such as nickel ore, bauxite and copper concentrate. Indonesia mining ministry yesterday (8 Jan) proposed to allow shipments of copper concentrates (no less than 15%) to continue until 2017. In this proposal, nickel ore and bauxite are not included.

25/12/2013

Seafloor mining

Nautilus Animated Industrial that shows a sterilized version of the Deep Sea mining process.

14/12/2013

The spot copper price raced ahead on Friday, jumping to a near 3-month and capping a 2.2% weekly gain.

Spot, or so-called front-month futures contracts were last trading at $3.35 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the best level since September 19.

The spot market for copper is extremely tight with premiums over 3-month contracts touching 18-month highs and Indonesia's export ban adding uncertainty.

28/11/2013

The country is seeing a transition from the investment phase to the production phase and this transition is 'only just the beginning.'

11/11/2013

The Brisbane Times quotes BIS Shrapnel Infrastructure and mining unit senior manager Adrian Hart as saying Australian mining would "continue to be challenged by lower commodity prices and a high Australian dollar."

BIS Shrapnel predicts there will be a 40% decline in construction positions even as overall employment ticks up 11% over the next five years.

Another study released last week by Business Monitor also forecasts moderating growth from the breakneck pace of the previous decade.

Australian miners are cutting back on large capex projects and taking a sledgehammer to costs.

04/10/2013

After almost two years of locking horns with the Papua New Guinea government over a project's ownership, Canada-based Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS) is finally free to move forward with its pioneering plan to mine the seafloor.

The company, the first yet not the only one exploring the ocean floor for polymetallic massive sulphide deposits, said in a statement that the arbitrator has ruled that Papua New Guinea breached the contract signed in March 2011 under which the country optioned to acquire 30% of the Solwara 1 project, located in its territorial waters in the Bismarck Sea.

As part of the deal, PNG agreed to pay its share of development costs for the mine, a clause it decided to disregard later, sending Nautilus shares downhill and jeopardizing the future of the first commercial underwater mine in the world.

The miner's shares were up almost 32% at 10:45 ET in Toronto after the announcement.

01/10/2013

China's Citic Pacific's $8 billion magnetite mine in Australia has finally gone into production.

31/08/2013

Rio Tinto has delayed the production target date of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea to the end of 2018.

The Australian reports the partners on the ambitious $20 billion project – world number two miner Rio Tinto, China's Chalco together with the World Bank – have signed a draft agreement with the government of the West Africa nation that calls for initial exports only by the end of 2018.

Rio Tinto is developing the southern part of the vast mountain deposit and has already spent more than $3 billion building open pits, but the scale and scope of the development has been placed in doubt by the fall in the price of iron ore and a looming supply glut.

$22 billion 95 million tonnes per year project won't be adding to looming iron ore supply glut.

31/08/2013

From chrome ore to stainless steel

From Chrome Ore to Stainless Steel tells the unique story of Outokumpu's integrated stainless steel production process in Tornio. The film shows all the key ...

22/08/2013

BHP gives greenlight to $2.6bn Jansen potash project in Canada

BHP Billiton (ASX, NYSE: BHP) (LON: BLT) showed Tuesday its commitment to develop Canada’s Jansen Potash project, potentially one of the world’s largest mines for the fertilizer ingredient, by announcing an investment of US$2.6 billion over the next four years.

The world’s No.1 mining company said the sum will go towards building shafts and surface infrastructure at the Saskatchewan-based mega project.

Today's announcement takes BHP’s total commitment to Jansen to about $3.8 billion.

08/08/2013

The final goal is to boost production.

24/07/2013

SNL Metals Economics Group, a major provider of global mining industry information and analysis, says global copper production in 2012 was characterized by higher costs and lower grades.

Capital and operating costs are up due to increases in energy bills, taxation, royalties and environmental approval costs. Meanwhile ore head grades are falling, the company reported in a recent study titled “Strategies for Copper Reserves Replacement Study."

The study tracked average capital costs for new copper mines and found that they increased by an average of 15% per year over the past 20 years – particularly in 2008.

"Cash operating costs at major mines also increased significantly, more than tripling over the past ten years, to an average of almost $1.50/lb in 2012," the report says.

New copper mine capital costs up by 15% per year over the past 20 years.