MINING.COM Staff Writer

Influential paper The Financial Times argues in an opinion piece the mining sector, which has been under the cosh for several weeks because of concerns about slowing economic growth and the possibility in the west of a double-dip recession, could rally from current levels.

Global steel production is set to rise to 1.5 billion tons in 2012 and due to increasing costs many ferrochrome and chrome ore producers will increase prices. The devaluation of the dollar, higher labour and fuel costs have led to a substantial increase in costs of ferrochrome and chrome ore production centred in South Africa, Kazakhstan, India, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Oman, Pakistan, Iran and Albania. There is no substitute for chrome in the steel-making process and some 90% of the chromite mined worldwide is converted to ferrochrome, used in the production of stainless steel.

Altius Mining (ASX:AYM) has closed a $12 million initial public offering (IPO), with a strong response from retail and institutional investors across Australia and overseas resulting in the offer being over-subscribed. The funds will be put towards the company's flagship Forsayth gold mine in Far North Queensland, where the first gold pour is expected later this year. Altius will also initiate a drilling program at the Sofala gold project in the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. Altius holds 10 exploration projects in the Lachlan Fold Belt gold producing region.

Mining Weekly reports six major platinum projects, collectively worth some R46-billion, are under project management on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, in the Rustenburg area of South Africa. Only two of the six are growth projects and the rest are replacement projects.

Mining Weekly reported that Silvercorp Metals, a Vancouver-based company with mines in China, as well as a silver project in BC, could see revenues approaching half a billion dollars if silver prices remain at current levels. Silvercorp currently operates four mines at its Ying camp, in China's Henan province, where the company produced 1.05-million ounces of silver in the three months ended March 31. It plans to ramp up production from the mine to 1 000 t/d by spring 2012, and to 2 000 t/d a year later.

Osisko Mining will not participate in the Duparquet Mining Camp Project owned by Clifton Star Resources, the Montreal Gazette reported on Friday: Osisko is evaluating areas for another large open-pit mining operation near Canadian Malartic, while putting most of its exploration efforts into the Hammond Reef gold property in Northern Ontario, an open-pit mining project as large as Canadian Malartic.