Rio Tinto lowers copper target; flags issues at Oyu Tolgoi
Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO) signalled on Friday a recovery in China’s economy, as it reported improved shipments of iron ore to the country, but the company cut its…
Asia
What the Nevsun human rights case means for Canadian miners
A recent Supreme Court decision pertaining to Nevsun Resources could have big implications for other Canadian mining companies with foreign operations, opening them up to human rights claims stemming from…
S&P Global lowers GDP, metals price forecasts
S&P Global Ratings has cut its global GDP growth forecast for 2020 to 0.4%. Earlier this month, it lowered its GDP growth forecast for China to 2.9% from its previous…
BofA forecasts 4.7M tonne aluminium surplus
Bank of America Securities estimates global demand for aluminium will fall by 7.2% year-on-year in 2020 while supply will likely increase by 2%. Prices for the metal already have plunged…
Editorial: Sinking in a sea of red
The economic fallout from COVID-19 is mounting sharply. Last week, unemployment claims in the United States hit a record 6.6 million, up from 3.3 million the previous week, and the…
Freeport ramps up security after attack kills employee near Grasberg mine
Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) confirmed that one employee was killed and another employee and contractor were seriously injured in a shooting in Papua, Indonesia, near the company’s administrative offices in Kuala…
Steppe Gold fires up ATO mine in Mongolia
Steppe Gold (TSX: STGO) is on track to produce 60,000 oz. gold this year at cash costs of US$500 per oz. from its heap leach mine in Mongolia, after starting…
Moody’s slashes growth forecasts
In November, Moody’s Investors Service forecast G-20 economies in 2020 would grow by 2.6%, but now estimates real GDP will contract by 0.5%, followed by a pick-up to 3.2% in…
Editorial: Asia shows the way
When I landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on March 20 aboard an Air Canada ‘repatriation’ flight from Mexico, none of us were checked to see if we had a…
US markets tank, March 16-20: Sandstorm, Alamos Gold, Rio Tinto
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.30% (4,011.64 points) to 19,173.98 and the S&P 500 dropped 14.98%(4,061.1 points) to 2,304.92 during the Mar. 16-20 trading week. Spot gold fell US$31.10…
SQM reports lower profits on weak lithium price
Sociedad Quimica y Minera or SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second-largest lithium producer, continues to suffer from sustained weak prices for the metal used in batteries that power electric vehicles…
Coronavirus impacts base metals market
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to spread, with figures from the World Health Organization putting the number of infected people in China at 77,262 and the number of deaths in…