Frik Els, Author at MINING.COM

Bernanke, bullion, bathos and Bill Gross

"Boy, that was anti-climactic. There was absolutely nothing in terms of a policy signal...no different than what he might have said at any point over the last few years."

Frik Els | June 7, 2012 | 4:58 pm

Coal port dredging, dumping threat to Great Barrier Reef

Round two: Queensland coal mine vs Great Barrier Reef

A delegation from the Australian state of Queensland will meet federal environment minister Tony Burke on Thursday to hammer out a deal on a massive coal project led by India's GVK and Hancock Prospecting after Burke halted the approval process.

Frik Els | June 6, 2012 | 11:59 pm

Newmont's Peru ambitions take another knock as water authority rejects Yanacocha expansion

Peru bringing charges of sedition against anti-Conga protest leader

Peru's Congress in a terse statement last night announced charges of “an incitement to the crime of rebellion” against Gregorio Santos, the province of Cajamarca’s Maoist governor who has lead violent protests against Newmont Mining's stalled Conga project.

Frik Els | June 6, 2012 | 5:12 pm

BHP ships one billionth tonne iron ore to China

At least 30 coal carriers with unsold cargo floating off China’s coast

The drop-off in demand, exacerbated by high inventories thanks to a mild northern hemisphere winter and a surge in US exports have led to a collapse in thermal coal prices.

Frik Els | June 5, 2012 | 11:21 pm

Soros called the bottom in Barrick Gold's stock

Huge setback for Rinehart and Reddy empires

Australian environment minister Tony Burke decided on Tuesday to "stop the clock" on Hancock Prospecting and GVK's Alpha coal project despite approval from the state of Queensland given last week.

Frik Els | June 5, 2012 | 5:10 pm

Canadian crude falls to $50 below global price

Maybe dirty, certainly cheap: Canadian crude crashes through $60 a barrel

A $40 discount to the global oil price, competition from Bakken shale oil, rising labour costs, pipeline problems and overproduction put in jeopardy billions of dollars of oil sands projects.

Frik Els | June 5, 2012 | 12:13 am

This chart shows mini gold price rally could have legs

Gold rally loses steam

After a dramatic trading day on Friday when gold shot almost $60 an ounce higher, Monday turned out to be soggy affair for the precious metal with no fresh news to drive the market.

Frik Els | June 4, 2012 | 7:21 pm

Gold price in worst losing streak since 1996

Global growth shocks drop copper to 2012 low

Copper suffered another sharp drop in New York on Friday with traders reacting to bad economic news from the US in the form of dismal jobs numbers, a crisis in Europe that seems to be stressed to breaking point and a steep drop-off in growth in China, Brazil and India.

Frik Els | June 1, 2012 | 8:25 pm

Gold price bounces around on jobs, inflation data

Gold gaps higher after dismal US jobs numbers and fresh Spanic

The raft of bad US economic numbers this week that culminated in the terrible employment report this morning, combined with the stream of bad news emanating from Europe, saw the gold price jump more than $50 an ounce on Friday.

Frik Els | June 1, 2012 | 5:07 pm

Neo Material Tech shareholders agree to Molycorp takeover, but what they really wanted was the cash

Under the terms of the deal Neo Material stockholders had the option to either receive cash or shares in Molycorp, but so many chose the former option that it exceeded the maximum cash amount that could be paid out to them.

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 9:55 pm