May 22, 2012

Sierra Leone ‘blood diamonds’ not forever

The west African state of Sierra Leone has taken another symbolic step away from its wartime image as the home of the "blood diamond". An Israeli-owned company has started operating…

May 22, 2012

Global aluminum market to reach $112.3 billion this year: report

The value of the global aluminum market will reach $112.3 billion this year according to a new study published by Netherlands-based research company ADSReports.

May 22, 2012

Xstrata relies on China to lift copper demand

Copper demand in China, the world's main consumer of the red metal, is expected to rebound in the second half of 2012, despite the uncertain outlook for Europe, the head…

May 22, 2012

BHP Billiton to restart manganese operations in Tasmania by the end of August

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) surprised the market this morning with good news by announcing it will restart its TEMCO manganese operations in Tasmania by the end of August.

May 22, 2012

Rio Tinto donates $12 million biggest pink diamond to a museum

London-based diversified miner Rio Tinto (LON & NYSE:RIO) is donating the biggest pink rough diamond ever discovered, found earlier this year at its Argyle mine, to an Australian museum in…

May 22, 2012

Rio Tinto sells aluminum business for $185 million

In what it seems a move towards exiting the aluminum wire business, diversified miner Rio Tinto (LON & NYSE:RIO) announced it is selling its U.S.-based wire and cable business Alcan…

May 22, 2012

Pebble: The real issue is do we need yet another gold mine?

The highly politicised nature of the Pebble Mine and mining development in general in the area makes any statement dangerous.

May 21, 2012

Copper off to the races after Wen comments

Copper saw a strong start to the trading week adding 1.8% following pro-growth comments by the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao over the weekend.

May 21, 2012

Hard coal landing: Australia scraps $9 billion port expansion

The state government has scrapped plans for a $8.8 billion coal terminal expansion project at Queensland's Abbot Point, Australia citing funding issues and environmental regulations, but China's slowing economy probably…

May 21, 2012

Gold rally runs out of steam before $1,600 mark

Traders said support given to Greece to stay in the Eurozone at the weekend's G8 meeting and a stronger dollar hurt the yellow metal.