Base & Precious Metals News

Sep 30 - Alcoa board approves split, expected effective Nov. 1

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc said on Thursday its split into two publicly traded companies is expected to be effective Nov. 1, after the company's board approved the separation. Alcoa said last year it would break itself in two, separating a faster growing plane and car parts business from the traditional aluminum smelting and refining operations, as shareholders sought higher returns amid a commodity slump. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Blockade underway at Goldcorp's Penasquito mine in Mexico

Protesters in northern Mexico blocked access to the Penasquito mining complex operated by Goldcorp Inc on Thursday, but the company said operations were unaffected and the issue would be resolved quickly. Vancouver-based Goldcorp said the blockade was illegal and caused by a trucking contractor concerned about losing business due to efficiency improvements at the mine. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Japan Q4 aluminium premium set at $75/T, down 17-19 pct from Q3 - sources

Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to a premium of $75 a tonne for metal to be shipped over October-December, down 17-19 percent from the prior quarter, on softer spot premiums amid a supply glut, five sources directly involved in the talks said. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the surcharges, or premiums, which consumers pay to producers on top of the London Metal Exchange cash price for primary metal shipments, set the benchmark for the region. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Philippine mining minister: Not all 20 mines facing suspension may be halted

The Philippine government may not freeze all 20 mines facing suspension for environmental infractions and they will be given time to address any lapses, the minister in charge of mining said on Friday."Yes if they are able to fix whatever" needs to be fixed, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told Reuters when asked if it is possible that not all 20 mines will be suspended. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - British Steel back in profit after spin-off from Tata

British Steel has returned to profit in its first 100 days of trading after being spun off as a loss-making division in April by India's Tata Steel after it decided to exit the troubled British steel sector. Investment firm Greybull Capital LLP bought the steelworks, based in Scunthorpe, northern England for 1 pound, reviving the historic British Steel brand, saving some 4,000 UK steel jobs and up to four times that amount in sectors dependent on steel making. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - China aluminum officials at U.S. trade hearing urge dialogue in face of criticism

A Chinese industry group making a rare appearance at a U.S. government hearing sought on Thursday to counter arguments that excess aluminum capacity in China threatened American and global producers and processors of the metal. Appearing at the end of a day of submissions at the U.S. International Trade Commission, the officials argued that China's aluminum industry had been a major contributor to the global economy.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Kirkland Lake to acquire Newmarket Gold in growth push

Canada's Kirkland Lake Gold will acquire Australian miner Newmarket Gold for about C$1 billion ($764 million) in stock, creating a mid-tier producer poised to grow, the companies said on Thursday. The transaction is somewhat of an outlier, as gold mining executives say the rising price of bullion has made acquisitions costlier for a sector focused on financial discipline.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Brazil grants formal operating license to Thyssenkrupp CSA steel mill

Rio de Janeiro's state environmental authority has granted a definitive operating license to Thyssenkrupp's CSA steel mill, a note published in the state's official gazette said on Thursday. The mill had been running on provisional licenses for the past six years, during which time it regularly attracted criticism from environmentalists and prosecutors. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 30 - Tata Steel says making progress on extra land for Indian plant

Tata Steel Ltd is making good progress on acquiring the land it needs to double the capacity of its newest steel plant in eastern India to meet growing demand in the country, a company executive said. Tata Steel, which has the capacity to make 27 million tonnes of steel in Asia and Europe, wants to add more in its home base in India where demand for the alloy is expected to grow faster than elsewhere in the world. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Aluminium rally expected to fade as oversupply comes into focus

Semi-finished aluminium goods in China are being turned back into metal, sources say, highlighting a supply overhang that casts doubt on the sustainability of a price rally this year.Aluminium prices have rallied this year due to the appearance of a tighter market. Assumptions that supply from top producer China would ease had been reinforced by falling stocks of aluminium in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), which have fallen nearly 70 percent since March to near 100,000 tonnes. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Canadian miner's affiliate holds off Philippine IPO plan as mine faces suspension

A Philippine nickel miner, partly owned by Canada's TVI Pacific Inc said it has put on hold a plan to list on the local stock exchange after the government said its mine may be suspended for environmental violations. TVI Resource Development (Philippines) Inc (TVIRD) holds a 60 percent stake in Agata Mining Ventures Inc. Agata's nickel laterite mine on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is among 20 more mines that the government's environment agency said may be halted. Manila has already suspended 10 mines in an audit over the past two months. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - London Metal Exchange tin stocks; going, going...? Andy Home 

Stocks of tin held in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses fell by another 80 tonnes yesterday. Headline inventory of 3,460 tonnes is the lowest it's been since 2008 and equivalent to less than four days of global usage. Even that figure, however, flatters to deceive. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Brazil voices concern at US steel barriers, Chile shipping treaty

Brazil is consulting with the World Trade Organization about U.S. barriers to Brazilian steel exports, Foreign Minister Jose Serra told journalists on Wednesday. Serra also said he was awaiting feedback from the Transportation Ministry about lodging a formal complaint against a maritime treaty with Chile that appears to be pushing up shipping costs compared to its more distant neighbors. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Scottish investment hopes rise as mothballed steel plant reopens

Scotland's last major steelworks reopened under the ownership of industrialist Sanjeev Gupta on Wednesday, heralded by Nicola Sturgeon's government as proof that the country can draw investment and protect industry in difficult times. Liberty Steel bought the 144-year-old Dalzell plant in Motherwell and its sister works at Clydebridge in Glasgow in April from Tata Steel for a symbolic sum, with the Scottish government underpinning the process. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - China punishes coal, steel companies for violating pollution, safety rules

China's state planner has punished hundreds of coal and steel companies by forcing them to close or cut output for violating environmental and safety regulations, the latest effort to crack down on the country's heavily polluting industries. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) forced two steel companies to shut completely, 29 firms to halt production and another 23 to curb output, it said in a statement on Thursday. The closures and curbs followed a nationwide inspection of more than 1,000 steel makers in the world's top producer.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Liberty bid for two Tata Steel UK units worth nearly 100 mln pounds - source

Industrial and commodity group Liberty House's bid for Tata Steel UK's speciality steel and pipe businesses is worth nearly 100 million pounds ($130 million), an industry source told Reuters on Wednesday. Britain's largest steelmaker paused the sale of its major UK assets in July to explore a joint venture with Germany's Thyssenkrupp, but proceeded with separate talks to sell its speciality and pipe businesses. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Protesters block access to Mexican mine owned by Goldcorp

Protesters in northern Mexico said they have blocked access to the Penasquito mining complex operated by Goldcorp, threatening to interrupt production at the country's biggest gold deposit. The protesters, which include landowners and truck drivers, began their blockade on Monday and are demanding payment for environmental damages, jobs, and water for their communities, Felipe Pinedo, one of the protest leaders, said on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - BHP Olympic Dam copper mine output shut after power outage

BHP Billiton said a massive blackout in South Australia has forced it to suspend production at its Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine to divert back-up power to maintain essential operations at the remote site. A BHP spokesman did not say when operations would resume at the mine, which produced 203,000 tonnes of copper in fiscal 2016, or about 13 percent of company-wide output. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Brazil's CSN says no definitive deal to sell stake in Congonhas

Brazilian steelmaker Cia Siderúrgica Nacional SA said on Wednesday it had no definitive deal to sell part of its stake in Congonhas Minerios SA, the country's No. 2iron ore producer,following a report that it was considering a such sale. CSN, as the company is known, was responding in a filing to securities regulator CVM, whichquestioned the steelmaker after Reuters reported on Monday that it might sell part of its 88 percent stake in Congonhas to China Brazil Xinnenghuan International Investment Co.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 29 - Anglo American eyes job cuts at Australian coal mine

Global miner Anglo American on Thursday said it had opened talks with workers and unions on a proposal to cut 90 jobs at its Capcoal coking coal mine in Australia, where industrial work stoppages have been underway since August. Anglo American, in the process of selling off its coal mining business in Australia to pay debt, said consultation was needed to "address a challenging commercial environment and unplanned delays to production", despite increases in coal prices. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Zinc: Is the rally fading?

Zinc has been investors' favourite base metal this year -- with gains of 43 percent to date -- following the closure and suspension of several key mines. However, zinc prices may be due for a pull back, on falling demand for steel in China and investor pressure on Glencore, the world's largest zinc processor, to raise output. To read more, click here.

Sep 28 - China's Dongbei Special Steel makes revival plan after defaults -newspaper

Dongbei Special Steel Group, the struggling Chinese steelmaker, has ironed out a business revival plan, aiming to return to profit and slash leverage ratio in three years' time, the Economic Observer reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources. According to the plan, made at an internal meeting on Sept. 20, Dongbei Special Steel aims to make a profit of 300 million yuan ($44.98 million) in 2018 on total revenue of 35 billion yuan, while reducing debt-to-assets ratio to below 60 percent, the newspaper said, without giving comparative figures.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Distinctive Dalzell reopens in effort to salvage steel jobs

Britain's largest steel plate mill reopens under owner Liberty Steel on Wednesday, a deal brokered by a Scottish government keen to stem the decline of its industrial heartland. Liberty bought the Dalzell plant in Motherwell and its sister works at Clydebridge in Glasgow from Tata Steel for a symbolic sum in April this year, with the Scottish government underpinning the process and no value disclosed. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Japan steel industry sees China merger promoting structural reform

"We welcome the move as the higher concentration will help advance structural reform in the Chinese steel industry," Kosei Shindo, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, told a news conference. China's Baosteel Group fleshed out its plans to buy rival Wuhan to create the world's second-largest steelmaker behind ArcelorMittal last week, part of Beijing's effort to consolidate its fragmented steel industry. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - High coking coal prices could stay -Teck Resources executive

Steelmaking coal prices, which have more than doubled this year, could stay high for several quarters as supply from mines that have restarted take time to reach the market, an executive at Teck Resources Ltd the world's second-largest exporter, said on Tuesday. Current spot prices of above $200 a tonne are unsustainable, and the Canadian miner expects prices to settle between $100 and $200 a tonne, Greg Waller, Teck's vice president for investor relations and strategic analysis, told Deutsche Bank's 24th annual leveraged finance conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Chile regulator approves $19 mln environment plan at KGHM copper mine

Chile's environmental regulator said on Tuesday it has approved a $19.1 million mitigation plan presented by KGHM's Sierra Gorda copper mine, after it found nine infractions at the operation. In March, the SMA environmental regulator pressed charges against Sierra Gorda, saying the copper mine could be fined up to $29 million and have its license revoked, for committing seven "serious" and two "mild" environmental infractions. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Philippines to suspend 20 more mines, boosting nickel price

The Philippines has ordered the suspension of 20 more mines for environmental violations, as the world's top supplier of nickel ore vowed to pursue stricter standards than in global mining centres such as Canada and Australia. Most of the mines were nickel producers and the news sent global prices up more than 1 percent on Tuesday, helping the metal recover from earlier losses amid worries over disruption of supply to the important Chinese market. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - China's MMG in deal to sell long-idle Australian nickel mine

China's MMG Ltd on Wednesday said it will sell its long-idle Avebury nickel mine in Australia to a private exploration company for A$25 million ($19.19 million). The sale, which MMG expects to finalise by the year-end, requires Australia-based Dundas Mining to pay a deposit of A$1.5 million. According to MMG, the sale agreement will be completed only when the full payment is done. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Ghana's gold output up 38.6 pct at 1.99 mln ounces in first half

Ghana's gold output rose 38.6 percent in the first half of 2016 to 1,993,850 ounces from 1,438,656 ounces a year ago, boosted mainly by new mining operations, the Ghana Chamber of Mines said on Tuesday. Africa's second-largest gold miner after South Africa earned $2.43 billion from gold in the first six months compared with $1.75 billion in the same period last year, the Chamber said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - Vale board to debate asset sales on Thursday - Valor

The board of directors of Brazil's Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore exporter, plans to vote on the sale of two important assets at a meeting on Thursday, the Valor Economico daily newspaper said on Tuesday. The board is expected to approve the sale of part of its giant Moatize coal mine, railway and port project in Mozambique to Japan's Mitsui & Co, the paper said, without citing sources. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 28 - China net gold imports via Hong Kong hit six-month low

Top consumer China's net gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong slid about 45 percent in August to the lowest in six months, dragged down by a decline in retail demand for physical gold, data showed on Tuesday. Net gold imports fell to 50.484 tonnes in August from 91.136 tonnes in July, according to data emailed to Reuters by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 27 - Philippine halts 20 more mines, 55.5 pct of nickel output - undersecretary

The Philippines has suspended 20 more mines for environmental violations, most of them nickel, a government official said on Tuesday, bringing to 30 the number of mines shuttered. The suspended mines account for 55.5 percent of nickel ore output in the Philippines based on last year's production, Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Leo Jasareno told a news briefing. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 27 - Nickel caught between shifting Indonesian and Philippine supply trends: Andy Home 

Indonesia shocked the nickel market at the start of 2014 when it made good on a commitment to ban all exports of unprocessed minerals.With the stroke of a presidential pen the flow of nickel ore to China's nickel pig iron (NPI) producers was halted. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 27 - Brazil's CSN, CBSteel discussing ore deal, sources say

Cia Siderúrgica Nacional SA is considering selling part of its stake in Congonhas Minérios SA, Brazil's No. 2 iron ore producer, to China Brazil Xinnenghuan International Investment Co, two people familiar with the deal said on Monday. According to the people, the Chinese mill known as CBSteel is interested in buying about 25 percent of Congonhas directly from CSN. They said CSN, as Brazil's No. 2 listed flat steelmaker is known, would remain in control of the unit, adding that talks are advancing slowly and may not necessarily result in a deal. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 27 - Brazil's Samarco misses bond payment, has 30-day remedy period

Samarco Mineração SA, the Brazilian iron ore mining joint venture that suspended operations in November following a dam disaster, missed an interest payment on a $500 million bond that was due on Monday, trustee Bank of New York Mellon Corp said. As a result, Samarco will have 30 days to make the payment, or else investors holding at least 25 percent of the $500 million bond could declare the principal due immediately, according to contractual terms of the 5.375 percent security due in Sept. 2024. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 27 - China's Tianqi Lithium to buy stake in Chile's SQM

China's Tianqi Lithium said on Monday it has agreed to buy just over 2 percent in SQM, at a time of increasing takeover interest in the Chilean nitrates and lithium company. Tianqi and SQM are two of the world's biggest producers of lithium, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries. Interest in the mineral has surged in recent months on hopes of an electric vehicle boom. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - The unintended consequences of China's coal cuts: pain for steel mills

The unintended consequences of China's efforts to shrink its coal industry emerged this week as Beijing called another last-minute industry meeting after government-enforced mine closures choked off coking coal supplies to troubled steel mills. Shortages and soaring prices were top of the agenda at a hastily-called gathering on Friday, the second in as many weeks that the government state planner has scheduled with executives from the nation's major coal producing regions.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - Policy flip-flop? Indonesia nickel smelter investors fret over possible rule changes

Indonesian nickel smelter investors fear the government of President Joko Widodo will change rules that have supported prices of the metal, and put up to $12 billion in its budding smelting and mineral processing industry at risk. Indonesia banned metal ore shipments in 2014 to push firms to build smelters and shift exports from raw materials to higher-value semi-finished and finished metals. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - U.S. moves toward finalizing duties on certain Indian steel pipe

The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday said India was dumping welded stainless pressure pipe in the United States at below market value and unfairly subsidizing the products. The final determination is a further step toward locking in U.S. duties on the imports, which the department said would range up to 13.3 percent. The pipes are used to transport fluids at high temperatures and pressures, and are used in the petrochemical, oil and gas and other industries. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - China's largest lead and zinc mine discovered in Xinjiang - Xinhua

China's largest lead and zinc mine has been discovered in the country's far-western region of Xinjiang, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. The mine is located in Hotan county and has almost 19 million tonnes of lead and zinc reserves, Xinhua said, citing a statement from the Xinjiang Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - China buys record North Korean coal as sanctions ignored: Russell

It appears that China is interpreting the "people's well-being" as meaning North Korea should be able to export record amounts of coal in defiance of sanctions against the rogue nuclear-armed state.China imported 2.465 million tonnes of coal from North Korea in August, the highest on record, and 61 percent above what was bought in April, the month sanctions were supposed to take effect. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - Speculators cut bullish COMEX gold stance for second week

Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week in the week to Sept. 20, ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. Speculators added slightly to their net long position in silver, and cut their net short position in copper futures and options, the data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 26 - Russia's Severstal majority owner sees core earnings down this year

Alexei Mordashov, controlling shareholder of Russian steel producer Severstal said on Friday the company's core earnings would worse this year than in 2015. "On one hand we feel confident enough, on the other, it is clear that this year's results will be worse than last year," Mordashov said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - U.S. steel producers to file charges against Chinese competitors

Four U.S. steel producers will file petitions with the U.S. Commerce Department charging Chinese producers with diverting shipments through Vietnam to avoid American import tariffs, a law firm representing one of the domestic producers said on Thursday. ArcelorMittal USA Nucor Corp  AK Steel Holdings Corp and United States Steel Corp are filing the petition, said Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, the law firm representing ArcelorMittal. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - China's Baosteel details Wuhan deal to forge ArcelorMittal rival

China's Baosteel Group fleshed out its plans to buy rival Wuhan to create the world's second-largest steelmaker behind ArcelorMittal on Thursday, part of Beijing’s effort to consolidate its fragmented steel industry. Earlier, the government gave the long-awaited deal its approval and in a detailed statement, Baosteel said it will buy Wuhan Steel at 2.56 yuan ($0.3839) per share by issuing new shares at 4.6 yuan per share, valuing Wuhan at 3 billion yuan. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Hinkley Point a boost to UK steel, but not a game changer

UK steelmakers are likely to win lucrative deals to supply the 18 billion pound ($23.5 bln) nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, not enough though to secure the future of Britain's troubled steel sector, industry experts say. UK steel firms are slowly emerging from a crisis that has seen around 5,000 jobs, or a fifth of the workforce, axed since last October, thanks primarily to rising steel prices and a falling pound making exports more competitive. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Iran plans to ban export of raw iron ore from March, to ship pellets 

Iran is planning to halt the export of raw iron ore from March 2017 and instead sell processed form of the steelmaking ingredient to maximise returns under an era of low prices, an industry official said on Friday. Tehran, which currently exports iron ore fines and lumps, is the sixth biggest supplier of the commodity to top market China, although its shipments are a fraction of those exported by Australia and Brazil that together accounted for 83 percent of China's January-August imports.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Goldman lifts coal price view after frenzied rally on China's reform push

Goldman Sachs has sharply raised its price forecasts for coking coal for the next two years, after this year's frenzied rally fuelled by a shortage in China that should revive idled mines from Mozambique to the United States. China's push to tackle a coal glut by imposing a 276-day cap on domestic coal mines earlier this year created a significant deficit, lifting the country's coking coal imports by 18 percent over January to August. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - vMetallurgical coal set for first drop since August after big rise

Metallurgical coal prices were headed for the first decline in almost two months as demand from Asian steel mills outside of China has declined though Chinese demand - the foundation for the commodity's rise - remains intact, sources said on Friday. Two cargoes of high-quality met coal sold for $190-195 per tonne FOB Australia on Thursday against spot prices of around $206 a tonne, according to two sources with knowledge of the transactions who did not want to be named, marking the first daily and weekly drop since early August. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Bad loans in Indonesia's mining sector nearly double to 6.8 pct in July

Bad loans in Indonesia's mining sector nearly doubled in July from a year earlier, the latest data from the financial regulator showed, despite the efforts of banks to step up provisions and scale back lending. Gross non-performing loans (NPL) in Indonesia's mining and quarrying industry rose for the fourth month in a row to 6.77 percent of total loans in the sector in July, according to Indonesia's Financial Services Authority. That compares with 3.82 percent a year earlier.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Are China's booming copper exports the new normal? Andy Home

China continued to pump refined copper out into the international market last month to the tune of 57,000 tonnes. Cumulative exports so far this year now total 335,000 tonnes, already exceeding any previous calendar year. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Order blocking permit for ThyssenKrupp Brazil mill lifted

A Brazilian judge on Thursday lifted an injunction blocking Rio de Janeiro from granting an operating license for ThyssenKrupp AG's Cia Siderurgica do Atlantico steel mill, saying there were no irregularities in the 11-year permit process. The ruling by Judge Natascha Maculan Adum Dazzi of the Rio de Janeiro-state Justice Tribunal reversed the injunction she granted Tuesday, according to a copy of the ruling provided by ThyssenKrupp. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 23 - Strike halts production of iron ore at Chinese mine in Peru

An indefinite workers' strike has halted production and shipments of iron ore at Shougang Hierro Peru SD. a unit of China's Beijing Shougang Co the company said on Thursday. The mine declared force majeure, which allows the company to miss deliveries because of circumstances beyond its control, at the start of the strike 11 days ago, added General Manager Raul Vera. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Big gold miners see muted M&A as bullion's rise limits bargains

The world's biggest gold miners will stay shy of big acquisitions, top executives said this week, noting that a jump in the price of bullion has made potential purchases pricey, and memories of failed deals linger.The need for financial discipline was the dominant theme at the Denver Gold Forum this week, an annual conference for top miners, as the sector emerges from a deep, four-year slump. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Chile mining investment plans fall, state copper commission says

Planned investments in Chile's mining sector are seen totaling $49.2 billion for the 2016-2025 period, down from last year's forecast of $77.3 billion for 2015-2024, according to state copper commission Cochilco.The vast majority of the investment plans are slated for copper projects, with a smaller portion going towards iron and gold deposits, a Cochilco spokeswomantold Reuters on Wednesday, confirming a report in the daily paper El Mercurio. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Reality check for Australia's "mining to dining" hopes: Russell

One of the themes in Australia as the resource boom comes to an end is that the country will be able to compensate by boosting its agricultural sector, the so-called "mining to dining" manoeuvre.An Internet search of the terms Australia and "mining to dining" reveals almost 4,000 items, many focused on the view that China, the top buyer of Australia's resources, will not only continue to suck up the country's iron ore and coal, but also all the farm goods it can produce. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - BHP readies for tax fight as Australia cracks down on offshore hubs

BHP Billiton has threatened court action against the Australian government over demands it pay $767 million in back taxes and penalties stemming from its use of a foreign tax haven amid a national crackdown on corporate tax loopholes.Australia is chasing the mining giant and other multi-national firms for taxes it claims they owe on profits; in BHP's case channelled through the more tax-friendly Singapore. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - China's steel demand seen shrinking for a third straight year - CISA

China's steel demand is likely to drop for a third year in a row, an industry official said on Thursday, as mills in the world's top producer focus on reducing capacity.China's crude steel consumption slipped 1.9 percent over January to July and there may be a slight drop for the year, said Wang Liqun, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA). Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Under global scrutiny, China has to cut steel exports - industry body 

China's international commitment to cut its massive steel capacity has to result in a reduction in exports, an official from the World Steel Association said, as countries around the world scrutinise Beijing's progress tackling a chronic glut.While the world's biggest steel producer appears to be throwing more weight behind efforts to cut capacity, China's 2016 exports remain on track to beat last year's record 112 million tonnes and domestic production rose for a sixth straight month in August. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Brazil court blocks license for ThyssenKrupp Rio CSA steelmill

A judge in Brazil prohibited the state of Rio de Janeiro from renewing an operating license for ThyssenKrupp AG's Cia Siderurgica do Atlantico steelmill, prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday.Tuesday's injunction, by judge Natascha Maculan Adum Dazzi of the state's Justice Tribunal, aimed to give courts time to evaluate other injunction requests seeking to require a new study of the mill's environmental and health impacts. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - No discount, no buyer: Low-grade iron ore more unloved as coal surges

Surging coal prices are prompting many Chinese steel mills to opt for higher grade iron ore to boost efficiency and use less coal, forcing suppliers of low-grade ore from India and Iran to offer deep discounts to attract buyers.At an annual iron and steel conference in China's port city of Dalian, low-grade iron ore suppliers scoured for steel mills in a packed hotel lobby, hoping to find new business. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - Philippines to suspend 12 more mines in environmental crackdown

A dozen more Philippine mines, mostly nickel projects, are in danger of being suspended in an ongoing environmental crackdown on the sector, an environment undersecretary said on Wednesday.The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top supplier of nickel ore, has already halted the operations of 10 mines, eight of them nickel producers, for environmental lapses since it launched an audit in July, stoking increases in global prices. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 22 - ICBC Standard Bank shrinks base metals trading business

ICBC Standard Bank has reduced its base metals business to cut costs, sources close to the bank said on Wednesday, joining other financial institutions in decreasing exposure to the out-of-favour commodities sector. Six employees have left ICBC in recent weeks, including Mark Thompson, head of base metals trading, and analyst Leon West gate, three sources said. The bank was not immediately available to comment. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - BHP vows to fight Australia tax office over payments for Singapore hub

BHP Billiton said it disagreed with Australian tax collectors' assessment that the miner needed to pay $766 million in back taxes and charges for its Singapore commodities marketing hub, and that it could resort to court action to fight the claim.BHP is under investigation by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for allegedly shifting billions of dollars in iron ore profits through marketing hubs in Singapore, where it operates under an effective tax rate of zero as part of a concessional tax deal. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - Cost-conscious major miners look to agility of junior explorers

Tight budgets and nervous investors have convinced major miners that a cheap, timely way to ensure a strong pipeline of quality assets is to team up with junior, more nimble exploration firms.Miners have slashed costs by delaying projects, sold assets and cut exploration budgets to free up cash to pay down debt, much of it acquired during and after the commodity price supercycle, which started in 2002. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - China Baosteel's takeover of Wuhan to create world's No. 2 steelmaker

China's Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel) will acquire its smaller debt-laden rival, Wuhan Iron and Steel in a deal that will create the world's second-largest steel producer as part of Beijing's push to overhaul the stricken industry.In a statement on Tuesday offering the first details of the long-anticipated deal, Wuhan said Baosteel will issue new shares to its shareholders to absorb the company. The proposal, which had previously been touted as a merger, is still subject to government approval. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - Silver Wheaton eyes more early stage mine financings

With big mine financing deals off their blistering pace of last year, financier Silver Wheaton is eager to do more transactions with small mining exploration companies, its chief executive said on Tuesday.Silver Wheaton pioneered the concept of "streaming" in the mining industry in 2004, a type of finance where miners receive cash upfront to build mines or reduce debt in exchange for future production at a discounted, fixed price. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - The lithium supply battle starts to heat up: Andy Home

The lithium rush is on. Not a day goes by without an exploration company telling us about an exciting development on their property, which is now a lithium prospect irrespective of what minerals were originally being hunted.Today it is the turn of Premier African Minerals, providing "a positive update on its 2,500-meter drilling programme at the company's Zulu Lithium Project near Fort Rixon in Zimbabwe". Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - China will testify at U.S. hearing against aluminium product imports

China's metals industry association and aluminium fabricators will testify at the U.S. International Trade Commission's hearing in Washington on Sept 29, according to an industry official.The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) and some aluminium fabricators will testify for the industry which has been blamed to have damaged U.S. producers and threatened jobs by massive aluminium product exports, the official said, declining to be named as he's not authorised to speak to media. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - New Gold chairman confident higher mine build cost will stand 

New Gold Inc which has unnerved shareholders this month by revising upward to over $1 billion the estimated cost of a mine it is building, is confident that this will be the last projected increase, its Executive Chairman Randall Oliphant said on Tuesday.New Gold, a mid-sized Canadian gold miner, said on Sept. 7 that its capital cost for the Rainy River project in northwestern Ontario had risen by another 11 percent to $1.045 billion due to a redesign of the mine's facility to treat tailings, or mine waste, to make it safer. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 21 - Wage talks between South Africa's Amplats, union hit deadlock

A South African union declared a wage dispute with the world's top platinum producer and a unit of Anglo American  on Tuesday after negotiations deadlocked, setting the stage for a potential strike.The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said in a statement it had rejected the latest offer of a 6.75 percent hike by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) less than half of the 14.5 percent it is seeking. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - China freezes Trafigura's investment in copper smelter as part of oil probe

The Chinese authorities have frozen part of commodity trader Trafigura's investment in a Chinese copper smelter as part of a years-long probe into the Swiss firm’s oil trading, according to documents from the police and banks reviewed by Reuters.In October last year, police in the northern Chinese city of Cangzhou, froze $32.9 million Trafigura Pte Ltd had injected into the metals project, a joint venture with Chinese metals producer Jinchuan Group Co Ltd  in the southwestern city of Fangchenggang, documents dated Oct. 28, 2015 show. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - China Sinosteel debt to equity swap plan approved – Caixin

China's troubled state-owned steelmaker Sinosteel will be permitted to swap 27 billion yuan of debt into equity convertible bonds, the online financial magazine Caixin reported on Tuesday citing anonymous sources.The Sinosteel debt-to-equity swap plan, previously reported by Caixin, would mark the first such swap this year under a wider debt-to-equity swap plan mooted by policymakers as one solution to China's corporate debt overhang. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Newmont's Indonesia mine sale closure may slip into Q4 -CEO

Newmont Mining Corp's sale of its stake in the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia may not close until the fourth quarter of the year, Chief Executive Gary Goldberg said on Monday, adding that the approvals process was complex.Newmont agreed on June 30 to sell its 48.5 percent economic interest in its Indonesia operations to a local investor group for up to $1.3 billion. The Denver-based miner said at the time it expected the deal to close in the third quarter. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Aluminium premiums stabilise in Europe, U.S., Japan vulnerable

Surcharges for physical aluminium have stabilised in Europe and the United States as more attractive financing deals and firmer demand tighten the market, but those in Japan are vulnerable to sliding further due to a glut of supply.In all three regions, the surcharges, or premiums, which consumers pay on top of the London Metal Exchange cash price for immediate delivery, have steadily declined for most of the year, falling by around a third. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Vale says rail delay limits new iron mine output to 75 mln tns

Brazil's Vale SA said on Monday output from its new S11D iron ore mine in the Amazon region will be limited to 83 percent of full capacity as efforts to preserve cash and limit transport disruptions crimp a needed railway expansion.The $14.3 billion project, Vale's biggest-ever investment, was widely expected to produce up to 90 million metric tonnes a year of iron ore - the key ingredient in steelmaking - after a two-year ramp-up scheduled to begin by year-end. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Barrick says Argentina mine may resume within two weeks

Barrick Gold's Veladero gold mine in Argentina, one of its five core mines, could resume operations in the next two weeks, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said in an interview on Monday. "I am hopeful that it could be up and going in that kind of two-week window depending on how the reparation work goes," Dushnisky said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Tokyo Steel cuts October prices by up to 13 pct amid soft demand

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd Japan's top electric arc furnace steelmaker, said it would slash prices of its products for October delivery by up to 13 percent to reflect soft local demand and weakening overseas prices.The company will cut prices by between 3,000 yen to 7,000 yen ($29 to $69) per tonne, it said in a press briefing on Tuesday. That is between 4 percent and 13 percent, Reuters calculations show. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - China aims to announce Anshan Steel-Benxi Steel merger by end-year

China aims to push through the merger of Anshan Steel and Benxi Steel by the end of 2016, after years of delay, as the country aims to consolidate and improve the concentration level of the industry, an industry group official said.Chi Jingdong, vice chairman of the China Iron & Steel Association that represents the country's steelmakers, told official media China.com.cn on Monday that the merger would be the government's top priority after the restructuring between Baosteel and Wuhan Steel Group. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 20 - Antimony prices surge as Chinese producers tighten supply

Antimony prices have hit their highest in more than 13 months due to shortages created by falling exports from top producer China, European traders said.Prices of antimony on the spot market in Europe are up nearly 39 percent so far this year and at $7,550 a tonne they are at their highest since July 2015. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Philippines may suspend at least 10 more mines under crackdown

The Philippines could suspend at least 10 more mines under an environmental crackdown on the sector, the minister in charge of mining said, in a move that threatens to halt the operations of half the mines in the world's top supplier of nickel ore.President Rodrigo Duterte has taken a tough line on the industry and warned the nation could survive without mining, while mineral producers have labelled a review of the sector a "demolition campaign". Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - China draws up restructuring plans for Bohai Steel - Caixin

Financial authorities in the city of Tianjin plan to convert a portion of debt-stricken Bohai Steel Group's liabilities into bonds, according to rescue plans drawn up recently, the online financial magazine Caixin reported on Monday.Officials met on Sept. 11 to discuss a comprehensive restructuring plan for the firm, which has liabilities of 192 billion yuan ($28.78 billion) from 105 creditors. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - World's gold miners stick close to home in hunt for more metal

The world's biggest gold miners are taking a cautious approach in their hunt for bullion, spending more money to explore around existing mines rather than new territory in a strategy that may have short-term gains but risks future production growth.Top producers are relying more than ever on small companies to do the heavy lifting of searching for new deposits and increasingly taking 10 to 20 percent equity stakes in the junior miners. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - London tin market a small and shrinking space: Andy Home

The London tin market is becoming increasingly prone to spread tightness.At one stage last week the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price flared out to a $250-per tonne premium over the three-month price. It was the third time in a year the front part of the LME curve has contracted sharply and there may be more to come. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Asian gold demand remains muted; discounts in India narrow

Demand for gold in India remained lacklustre this week as higher prices hampered consumer purchases, but discounts narrowed due to a correction in overseas rates.The safe-haven bullion has fallen over 1 percent this week despite a mixed bag of U.S. economic data ahead of next week's U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Wage pact ends strike at Anglo American copper mine in Chile

Anglo American said on Friday it had reached a wage agreement with two unions at its flagship Los Bronces copper mine in central Chile, ending a strike that began a week ago.The process of "normalizing" operations at Los Bronces began earlier on Friday and the impact on overall production will be reported in the company's quarterly results, Anglo American said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Speculators cut bullish COMEX gold, silver stances - CFTC

Hedge funds and money managers lowered their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Sept. 13, amid uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.The speculators reduced their net short position in copper futures and options, the data showed, while in gold, they cut their net long position by 30,136 contracts to 248,858 contracts. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Rusal sees stable aluminium prices for first time in 5 years

Russian aluminium giant Rusal expects aluminium prices to stabilise within a $1,600-1,700 per tonne range next year if China does not increase production, global stocks keep falling and demand grows.Aluminium, used in transport and packaging, has been under pressure for some time due to oversupply. This year it is forecast to average about $1,565 a tonne, near current level according to a Reuters survey. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 19 - Brazil grants Vale license for Amazon iron ore mine rail branch

Brazil granted Vale SA a 10-year license to operate a 101-kilometer (63-mile) branch line connecting its $14.3 billion S11D iron ore mine project in the Amazon jungle to the Carajas Railway, the company said in a statement on Friday.The Carajas Railway branch will allow Vale, the world's largest iron ore exporter, to haul S11D's output to the Port of Ponta da Madeira in Sao Luis, Brasil to ships that will load the product for export. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Russia's "blood river" spill shouldn't happen again, plant operator says

A spill of waste originating from a metallurgical plant in Russia that turned a river blood-red posed no threat to people or wildlife, an executive at the plant's operator said. Pictures of the crimson water in the Daldykan river, in the Arctic Circle, quickly went viral over social media, and green campaigners said the incident highlighted how industrial development posed a risk to the environment. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Barrick's Argentina mine suspended after cyanide spill

Barrick Gold Corp  said on Thursday that operations at its Veladero mine in Argentina were temporarily suspended by the government after a "small quantity" of processing solution that contains cyanide leaked outside a processing area.The solution flowed over a berm surrounding the leach pad where gold is processed after a pipe was damaged on Sept. 8 by a large block of ice that rolled down a valley slope, Barrick said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Brazil's Coelho says Samarco may resume operations subject to conditions

Brazil's Samarco Mineração SA will be able to resume iron ore mining operations should co-owners Vale SA and BHP Billiton Plc come through with promised investments, Mining and Energy Minister Fernando Coelho said on Thursday.Samarco had operations halted last November, when a tailings dam at the mine burst and unleashed a mud flow that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless and polluted a major river. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Glencore to delay coking coal shipments after Australia train accident

Glencore will have some "short-term" delays in its coking coal shipments after a train derailment on freight operators Aurizon Holdings train system in Queensland, Australia, on Sunday, the miner and trader said on Thursday.The Pacific National coal service derailment has disrupted coking coal shipments from Queensland's Bowen basin, which could add further heat to prices that have nearly doubled since the start of August. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Lundin gets second bid extension on Freeport Congo mine stake

Canadian base metals miner Lundin Mining Cor has won a two week extension until Sept. 29 to bid on Freeport-McMoRan Inc's stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine, Lundin said in a statement on Thursday.Lundin, previously granted an extension to Sept. 15, said it continues to review, with legal and financial advisors, its ownership in the Democratic Republic of Congo mine, one of the world's largest copper deposits. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 16 - Buenaventura says new mine to kick off production in November

Peruvian precious metals miner Buenaventura expects its Tambomayo mine to produce its first bar of gold in November and reach full output at the end of this year or the start of next, the company said late on Wednesday.Renzo Macher, Tambomayo's project manager, told reporters on the sidelines of a mining conference that the underground mine should produce at least 120,000 ounces of gold next year. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - China denies aluminium exports evading U.S. duties

A Chinese industry group has denied that the country's aluminium producers could be involved in exporting extrusion products via Mexico to circumvent U.S. duties, in the latest sign of bubbling trade tensions between the two nations.A report by the Wall Street Journal last week cited U.S aluminium executives contending that some $2 billion worth of Chinese metal products had been stockpiled in Mexico as part of a scheme to re-export to the United States, which imposes heavy duties on Chinese products. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - The curious case of the missing LME lead stocks explained: Andy Home

Maybe it's because it's the lead market.If a warehouse company had submitted incorrect copper stocks figures to the London Metal Exchange (LME) for three weeks, it might have expected a bigger fine than 30,000 pounds ($40,000).Which is what Worldwide Warehouse Solutions (WWS), the LME logistics arm of Noble Group, has been hit with for supplying wrong lead stocks figures for metal stored at the Dutch port of Vlissingen.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - Gerdau bets on new Brazil line, exports, data to ease steel slump

Brazil's Gerdau SA , the No. 1 long-steel producer in the Americas, is counting on non-traditional flat-steel exports and a data venture with General Electric Co to help weather a world-steel slump and sharp domestic downturn.Gerdau said half of the output from its Ouro Branco steel complex is now exported. Growing production from the higher-value hot-rolled coil and steel plate lines at the plant are winning orders from new British and German clients, said Rodrigo Soares, Gerdau's head of Brazilian industrial steel, during a media visit to the plant on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - China's steel failure, coal success show prices trump bureaucracy: Russell

China's steel and coal sectors provide contrasting stories so far this year, with one failing miserably to curb output and the other cutting so successfully it's led to the unintended consequence of higher prices and imports.China's steel sector, which accounts for about half of global production, continued its recent strength in August, with output rising for a sixth month to 68.57 million tonnes, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - De Beers sees tough outlook as critical holiday sales approach

Anglo American owned De Beers, one of the world's largest diamond producers, expects some growth in the consumer market next year but its chief executive warned the overall sales environment is likely to remain tough. Bruce Cleaver, who was appointed to head De Beers in May, said prices had stablised for rough diamonds, while the polished diamond market looked set to be flat. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - Global nickel deficit narrows to 5,200 T in July - INSG

The global market deficit in nickel narrowed to 5,200 tonnes in July from a revised deficit of 12,100 tonnes the month before, taking the shortfall so far this year to 42,500 tonnes, data from the International Nickel Study Group showed. The deficit for the first seven months of 2016 compared with a surplus of 53,600 tonnes in the same period last year, INSG said in a release on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 15 - Lithium Americas says to keep looking for Argentine deposits

Lithium Americas, the Canadian company developing a lithium production site in Argentina, will continue looking for deposits in the South American country after its site in Jujuy province comes online, Chief Executive Tom Hodgson said in an interview. In Buenos Aires for an investors' conference hosted by President Mauricio Macri, who won office last year and has implemented a number of free-market reforms, Hodgson said construction of the Cauchari-Olaroz drilling site in Jujuy will start in the first half of next year. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - U.S. trade panel affirms hot-rolled steel duties on seven countries

The U.S. International Trade Commission handed another victory to American steelmakers on Monday, affirming most of the recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on hot-rolled flat steel imports from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Turkey. The commission rejected anti-subsidy duties of about 6 percent against hot-rolled steel from Turkey, but affirmed anti-dumping duties of about 6 to 7 percent against Turkish-made hot-rolled steel. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - Disruption to open outcry trading hits LME volumes

The temporary relocation of open outcry trading at the London Metal Exchange (LME) to a disaster recovery site due to problems at its new offices hit volumes hard during the already quiet summer months, broking sources said. For all contracts traded on the LME, volumes fell more than nine percent year-on-year in August to 12.18 million lots, after a drop of nearly 18 percent in July. Volumes for aluminium and copper fell nearly 22 percent and seven percent respectively in August from the same period a year ago. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - China's steel failure, coal success show prices trump bureaucracy: Russell

China's steel and coal sectors provide contrasting stories so far this year, with one failing miserably to curb output and the other cutting so successfully it's led to the unintended consequence of higher prices and imports. China's steel sector, which accounts for about half of global production, continued its recent strength in August, with output rising for a sixth month to 68.57 million tonnes, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - London court freezes $8 mln of assets of Mongolian miner EMC for debt

A London court has issued an order allowing the UK assets of Mongolian copper miner Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC) to be frozen, following a long-running dispute with Swiss firm MRI Trading AG, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. The order to freeze the assets, worth up to $7.115 million plus 637,818 pounds ($841,664), was granted last Thursday and has been served on 12 trading houses and banks so far, the sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - Norilsk's 1942 nickel plant gone but far from forgotten: Andy Home

Norilsk Nickel , or Nornik as it has just rebranded itself, has just completed the decommissioning of the nickel refining plant in its far-flung Polar operations in the Arctic north of Siberia.It was known as the 1942 Plant because that's when it was first commissioned and it has been operating ever since. The closure is part of a radical overhaul of the company's nickel operations, with refining operations being refocused on the metallurgical complex on the Kola Peninsula in the west of Russia and the Harjavalta refining complex in Finland. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - Desperation and death beneath South Africa's City of Gold

When he lost his job as a Johannesburg gardener a month ago, 25-year-old Sibangani Tsikwe did what millions of men have done before him: seek their fortune deep underground in the gold mines that help to define South Africa.The decision has probably cost him his life. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - Ahead of more suspensions, Philippine miners question review process

Philippine miners facing more mine suspensions under an environmental review backed by President Rodrigo Duterte have stepped up their criticism of the process, questioning the inclusion of anti-mining activists in the review teams. The world's top nickel ore supplier has halted operations of 10 mines, eight of them nickel, for environmental infractions, and the government has said more suspensions will be announced this week. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 14 - EU's free carbon permits to steel sector not flawed-court

Europe's highest court on Tuesday confirmed the European Commission's calculation for handing out free carbon permits to the steel sector, ruling out the prospect of higher costs for its big energy users."The Court found, in particular, that the Commission had not committed any manifest error when taking into account the efficient energy recovery from waste gases and emissions related to their use in the value of the hot metal benchmark, the most important benchmark in the steel sector," it said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - U.S. trade panel affirms hot-rolled steel duties on seven countries

The U.S. International Trade Commission handed another victory to American steelmakers on Monday, affirming most of the recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on hot-rolled flat steel imports from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Turkey.The commission rejected anti-subsidy duties of about 6 percent against hot-rolled steel from Turkey, but affirmed anti-dumping duties of about 6 to 7 percent against Turkish-made hot-rolled steel. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - China copper demand picks up after summer lull

Emerging Chinese copper demand after a summer factory lull and buying by traders buoyed by cheap premiums and weak global prices looks set to fuel a recovery in China's copper imports this month after a plunge to 12-month lows in August.The buying interest could help stem a surge in Chinese copper exports, but may not be enough to offset the impact of an expected flood of new supply this year, traders and analysts said, putting further pressure on prices into 2017. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - Coking coal bubble to deflate, unlikely to burst: Russell

When the price of a commodity rises by 117 percent in a mere 15 weeks, it's generally a sign that something is amiss in the market, and coking coal's recent stellar run is no exception to this rule.The spot price of Australian premium hard coking coal has surged from $83.40 a tonne on May 31 to $180.90 on Sept.9. So far this year, the price of the fuel used mainly to make steel has leapt by 131 percent, making it the best performer among significant commodities. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - Shefa Yamim prepares for London IPO, commercial mine in Israel

Shefa Yamim, the only Israeli miner for precious stones, has signed with a brokerage firm in London to pursue an initial public offering to raise up to $10 million as it plans a possible expansion of its operations in northern Israel.Shefa Yamim, already listed in Tel Aviv, said on Monday the London flotation of a 75-percent owned subsidiary is scheduled to happen by the end of the year. It did not name the brokerage or specify which London market it was eyeing. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - Baosteel raises main steel product prices for Oct delivery

China's biggest listed steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel), has raised its main steel product prices for October delivery, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.Prices for hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil were raised by 100 yuan ($14.97) per tonne and 150 yuan ($22.46) per tonne respectively, it said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - Barrick Gold partners with Cisco in bid to boost productivity

Barrick Gold Corp, the world's biggest gold producer, said on Monday it would partner with Cisco Systems  to incorporate digital technology in all aspects of its mining business, aiming to improve productivity and reduce costs.Toronto-based Barrick said it planned to spend around $100 million between now and the end of 2017 working with Cisco to embed technology in various parts of its operations to deliver better, faster and safer mining. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 13 - Poland may ease KGHM's mining tax in 2017 -minister

Poland may provide the country's sole copper producer KGHM relief next year on a 2012 tax that eats into the miner's profits, Treasury Minister Dawid Jackiewicz told Wprost weekly in an interview published on Monday.The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party moved to power in last year's elections, on among other things a promise of scrapping the levy on mining income. But the budgets for this year and next are still counting on revenue from that tax. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 12 - British steel workers face prospect of pension quick fix - sources

A steel industry plan to change its pension scheme and allow the sale of Tata's British operations is likely to be scrapped in favour of a fix that avoids a political row, government and industry sources told Reuters.Tata in March put its British steel operations up for sale, saying it could no longer sustain heavy losses. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - Main border crossing for Congo copper exports closed as riots kill three

Three people were killed in riots on Friday near a border crossing between Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia that serves as the main export route for Congolese copper, Congo's government said.Authorities in both countries closed the border in response, Christabel Mulala, the mayor of the Zambian border town of Chililabombwe, told Reuters. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - Lundin CEO sees right conditions for Portuguese zinc mine expansion

Lundin Mining  could double zinc production at its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal as a big rally in prices and looming deficit of the metal used to rust-proof steel have created the right conditions for an expansion, its chief executive said."We hope to go ahead with a positive decision by year-end," CEO Paul Conibear said in an interview, adding that Toronto-based Lundin has also seen progress on mine plant efficiency and modernization efforts. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - Chile's Codelco says strike at Salvador copper mine ends

Chile's state-owned copper miner Codelco said late on Friday that unionized workers at its small Salvador copper mine have accepted a wage offer and ended a strike, which had been ongoing since Monday.Salvador is in the process of restarting its smelter, refining, mining and plant operations, while workers are returning to their posts, Codelco said in a statement. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - Speculators raise net long COMEX gold, silver positions - CFTC

Hedge funds and money managers hiked their net long position in COMEX gold contracts to a nine-week high in the week to Sept. 6, as they also raised a bullish stance in silver, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.The speculators boosted their net short position in copper futures and options to the largest since mid-June, the data showed. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - LME fines warehouse firm 30,000 pounds for reporting errors

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has fined Worldwide Warehouse Solutions UK Ltd (WWS) 30,000 pounds ($40,000) for errors in recording movements of lead inventories, the exchange said on Friday.The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said in a statement the errors resulted in mistaken data being released in February about 31,700 tonnes of lead inventories at the WWS warehouse in the Dutch port of Vlissingen. Click here to read full stories

Sep 12 - Bids received for SQM stake worth up to $2.5 bln – reports

The sale of a stake in Chile's SQM, one of the world's biggest lithium and iodine suppliers, has attracted widely differing offers, with the highest worth up to $2.5 billion, local media reported Friday.An indirect stake in SQM  has been for sale since December, when holding company Oro Blanco invited buyers to make an offer for its entire 88 percent interest in Pampa Calichera Pampa Calichera in turn owns about 23 percent of SQM, a major producer of lithium, potash and fertilizer chemicals. Click here to read full stories

Sep 09 - Uncertainty over Brazil Samarco mine hinders restructuring, firm at risk

Almost a year after a deadly dam spill at the Samarco mine, owned by BHP Billiton and Vale, there is still no date for restarting operations, complicating attempts to restructure Samarco's debt and increasing the possibility the miner may be allowed to run out of money.Vale  and BHP  have assured authorities they will cover the cost of Brazil's worst ever environmental disaster, sources familiar with their thinking say, stopping short of saying they will keep Samarco, for whom the closed mine is the only real revenue stream, afloat. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 09 - Appearance and elusive reality in China's zinc mining sector: Andy Home

What could bring the zinc bull party to an untimely end? Well, obviously, there is the potential for Glencore to reactivate the 500,000 tonnes of mine capacity it has idled since late last year.Given zinc's stellar outperformance so far this year is predicated on a tightening raw materials market and the promise that this will feed through to metals shortage, the timing of any restarts will be a critical part of the equation. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 09 - Goldcorp hires Scotiabank to run Los Filos mine sale: sources

Goldcorp Inc  has hired Bank of Nova Scotia  to lead the sale process for Los Filos, its gold and silver mine in Mexico, according to two sources familiar with the situation, after putting the asset on the block earlier in the summer.David Garofalo, chief executive of the Vancouver-based gold miner, said in late July that Goldcorp was looking at offloading the mine, as well as weighing options for its Alumbrera mine in Argentina and the Marlin mine in Guatemala.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 09 - Some Japanese aluminium buyers agree to Q4 premium of $75/T -sources

Some Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay producers a premium of $75 per tonne for shipments in the October-December quarter, reflecting softer spot premiums, two sources directly involved in the quarterly pricing talks said on Thursday.The deal, which marks a 17 to 19 percent fall from the $90 to $93 per tonne premiums  in the previous quarter, is the second straight quarterly drop and the lowest in more than seven years.Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange cash price  set the benchmark for the region.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 09 - Indonesia evaluating mining rules as 2017 deadline on metal exports nears

Indonesia's mining ministry is scrambling to find a way around a deadline on mineral processing that could prevent some miners, including U.S. copper mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc  from exporting minerals from the country from 2017.Under a government regulation introduced in 2014, miners of copper, zinc, lead, manganese and iron are restricted to exporting partially processed minerals until January 2017, after which only shipments of refined metals will be allowed. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 09 - Gold explorer WRE plans $40 mln dual listing

South African gold explorer White Rivers Exploration (WRE) aims to raise up to 30 million pounds ($40 million) with a dual stock market listing in London and Johannesburg next year to help it to develop one of the world's largest bullion deposits.WRE Executive Chairman Neil Warbuton told Reuters that the 11.5 million ounce reserve offers "huge upside potential" as one of the largest unmined high-grade gold resources in the world and that a dual listing will facilitate commercialisation of the project. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - Volatile gold demand tarnishes U.S. commodity fund sales

Turning fortunes for gold pushed withdrawals from U.S.-based commodity funds to their highest levels since April, Investment Company Institute data for the latest week showed on Wednesday.Investors pulled $601 million from those mutual funds and exchange-traded funds during the week through Aug. 31, the trade group said, though many gold funds have seen a rebound in recent days. The fickle buying and selling of funds, such as SPDR Gold Shares, comes after some U.S. monetary policymakers suggested they favored raising interest rates sooner rather than later, though weak economic data have damped their case.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - Scramble for tin as one player holds up to half LME stocks

The premium of nearby tin futures over benchmark ones on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has spiked to the highest in almost a year after one investor amassed up to half of the remaining LME inventories. Falling shipments from top tin exporter Indonesia has sent LME inventories of the metal used to make solder for the electronics industry sliding to the lowest in over a decade."The nearby tightness is biting," said Dee Perera, at broker Marex Spectron. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - Platinum market to tighten this year, but catalyst demand to fall - WPIC

The platinum market will tighten more than previously forecast this year, an industry report said on Thursday, as shrinking supply of mined and recycled metal outweighs downward revisions for jewellery and autocatalyst demand.In its latest Platinum Quarterly report, the World Platinum Investment Council forecast a 520,000-ounce deficit in the platinum market this year, up from a 455,000-ounce shortfall predicted three months previously. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - Peru proposes state-owned bank buys gold from artisanal miners

The government of Peru wants a state-owned bank to buy gold from artisanal miners in order to replace a lucrative but shady informal market, Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne said on Wednesday.Thorne said the miners would receive a better price for their gold and would not have to pay the value added tax rate, giving them incentives to register with the government and comply with environment and labor laws. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - S.African mines minister says talks with industry over mining charter going well

South Africa's mining minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on Wednesday that talks with industry to reach an out-of-court settlement over a mining charter were "progressing well", but gave no details in a response to parliament. The government wants to enforce a requirement that 26 percent of all mining companies be in black hands under the proposed new law. Companies however say they should be considered to have met the regulation even when black owners have sold their shares in the firms. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 08 - China steel exports fall to 6-month low, in brief respite for world

China's steel exports fell to the lowest in six months in August amid stronger domestic prices, offering relief to rivals overseas angered by a flood of cheap Chinese products.But the global reprieve could be temporary as Chinese steel producers could easily boost exports to ship surplus output amid gradual efforts to address its chronic overcapacity. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - Rio versus BHP boils down to investors' choice of commodity 

The backgrounds of the leaders of the world's top mining companies illustrate the choice facing investors, with BHP Billiton's chief executive having worked in the oil industry and Rio Tinto's new boss more focused on copper.After aggressive cost-cutting and asset sales to drive down debt, the two mining giants are positioning themselves to capture growth as commodity markets begin to recover from a crash that dented company balance sheets. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - G20 kicks steel overcapacity can down the road again

When G20 leaders met in the Chinese city of Hangzhou this week, they did so under, if not quite blue skies,at least smog-free skies.That's because the Chinese authorities had ordered hundreds of industrial plants in and around the city to close. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - 'Flash Boys' protagonists aiming new exchange at gold

IEX Group, which rose to prominence with its bid to shake up stock trading in the United States, now aims to do the same in the more than $5 trillion-a-year gold market with a new exchange being created by its spinoff TradeWind Markets, a board member of the new venture said on Tuesday.The protagonists of Michael Lewis's book, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt," are planning a gold exchange that would use elements of blockchain technology to improve transparency and the clearing and settling of trades, said Matt Harris, a managing director at Bain Capital Ventures. Bain has an investment in IEX. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - Chile's Codelco expects Salvador mine strike resolution soon – CEO

Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's biggest copper miner, expects to resolve a strike by workers at its smallest mine, Salvador, in the coming days, Chief Executive Nelson Pizarro said on Tuesday.After Codelco failed to reach agreement with one of its unions in contract talks, workers at the Salvador copper deposit began protests on Monday, blocking access and affecting production. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - China's Tianqi Lithium to build $300 mln plant in Australia

China's Tianqi Lithium Industries  is set to build a A$400 million ($306 million) plant in Australia which it aims to open in late 2018, expanding its output of the material mainly for lithium batteries used in electric cars and high-end energy storage.The plant will take ore from the Greenbushes mine, a spodumene hard rock mine in southwestern Australia, and would be able to produce 24,000 tonnes a year of lithium hydroxide, boosting Tianqi's processing capacity by more than 50 percent, the company said in a statement. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 07 - Key rail bridge for Ivory Coast-Burkina Faso trade collapses

A bridge on the railway linking Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso collapsed on Tuesday and it will be several months before the trade route between the two countries is fully restored, said Sitarail, a unit of the Bollore group.Nobody was injured when a bridge over the River Nzi close to Dimbokro in central Ivory Coast collapsed and officials are inspecting the damage before starting repairs, Sitarail said in a statement.The railway was built by French colonizers to link the port city of Abidjan with Niamey, Niger, via the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 - G20 pledges to tackle global steel glut, quell China tensions

G20 leaders have pledged to work together to address excess steel capacity that has punished the global industry with low metal prices for years while raising tensions between China and other major producers.A statement from the White House said that leaders at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, eastern China, on Monday accepted that overcapacity in steel and other industries is a global issue that requires a collective response. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 -Japan aluminium buyers to turn to spot markets, could crimp annual contracts 

Japanese aluminium buyers are looking to crimp the amount of the metal they purchase via annual contracts, instead turning to spot markets where premiums have in recent months dropped to their lowest in over seven years amid a persistent supply glut.Most aluminium buying by Asia's biggest importer of the metal is carried out through annual contracts, with premiums for delivered metal set each quarter via negotiations that act as a benchmark for the region. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 - As Nyrstar hedges forward, should zinc bulls be worried? Andy Home 

Zinc continues to glow red hot amid the general gloom pervading the industrial metals sector. On the London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month metal  closed last week valued at $2,364 per tonne, up 50 percent on the start of the year and the highest it's been since May last year.Everyone, it seems, is still buying into the galvanising metal's enticing narrative of supply shortfall, something of a stand-out in a sector that is more worried about the weak state of demand. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 - Australian firm taps coking coal rebound for new mine in 2017 

A private equity-backed firm expects to dig a new coal mine in Australia's prized Bowen Basin in 2017, tapping into a recovery in prices for coal used to make steel at a time when the world's biggest suppliers have stopped building mines.Pembroke Resources, led by the ex-boss of Gloucester Coal Barry Tudor, expects the Olive Downs project to start up within 12 months with a 1-million-tonnes-a-year mine and add two more mines by 2019. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 - Copper output at Codelco's Salvador mine hit by strike 

Striking workers at Codelco's small Salvador copper deposit in Chile have blocked access to the mine and are affecting production, the company and union said on Monday.The union last week said it would go on strike this week after failing to reach agreement in contract talks. Codelco told Reuters that protests began on Sunday night and that currently "the mine has been occupied and operations are paralyzed." Click here to read full stories.

Sep 06 - Miners call for World Heritage Sites to be left untouched by all 

The world's biggest mining companies called on Monday for action to stop any firms, including the oil and gas industry, extracting resources from natural sites protected by the United Nations.In 2003, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), which groups 23 firms including BHP Billiton, Rio, Anglo American and Glencore, agreed to halt mining in World Heritage Sites as part of a remit to make mining more sustainable. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - Miners' hedging on gold highest for six years in Q2 

Gold mining companies expanded the global hedge book by a further 21 tonnes in the second quarter to the highest level in six years, an industry report showed on Friday.Hedging, usually by selling future gold production forward, allows miners to lock in prices and guarantee returns for their output.Gold prices rose around seven percent in the second quarter from the first three months of the year. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - Surging China stainless steel output may reverse recent nickel slump 

A surprise jump in stainless steel production this year in China, the world's biggest nickel user, may reignite a rally in nickel prices as investors shift focus to demand from worries over Philippine supply.China's output of nickel-bearing stainless steel, which uses more nickel than overall stainless steel, during January to July surged to 11.201 million tonnes, up 10 percent from the same period in 2015, according to UBS. Overall stainless steel output for the first seven months of 2016 was 8 percent higher than a year ago at 13.639 million tonnes, UBS said. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - China's Henan to close 62.5 mln T of coal capacity by 2018 -Xinhua 

Central China's Henan province will cut annual coal capacity by 62.54 million tonnes and crude steel by 2.4 million tonnes over the 2016-2018 period as part of efforts to tackle nationwide supply gluts in the sectors, Xinhua news agency reported.China has vowed to bring total coal capacity down by as much as 500 million tonnes in the coming three to five years, and also plans to close 100-150 million tonnes of steel production by the end of 2020 in a bid to prop up prices and curb widespread losses in the two industries. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - Speculators cut bullish COMEX gold position to 3-mth low 

Hedge funds and money managers reduced their bullish stance in COMEX gold contracts in the week to Aug. 30 to the lowest in nearly three months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.The speculators also cut their net long position in silver futures and options to the lowest since mid-June while they sharply increased their net short position in copper, the data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - Philippines to suspend more mines as environmental review ends 

The Philippines will this week announce the suspension of more of the country's mines for violating environmental regulations, the mining minister said on Monday, as the government wrapped up a seven-week review.The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country's 40 metallic mines on July 8 and has so far suspended 10, eight of them producing nickel ore. The closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - Zinc producer's shareholders fall short in bankruptcy fight 

Horsehead Holding Corp was cleared to exit bankruptcy on Friday although a U.S. judge acknowledged that allegations by the zinc producer's shareholders that their investment was being unfairly wiped out came very close to derailing the company's plan.Horsehead can now proceed with its plan that will eliminate most of its $427 million in pre-bankruptcy debt, cancel its stock and allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 under the control of its noteholders, led by Greywolf Capital Management. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 05 - U.S. affirms duties on steel from Brazil, India, UK, South Korea 

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted on Friday to lock in duties on imports of cold-rolled steel flat products from Brazil, India, South Korea and Britain but said imports from Russia were not injuring the U.S. industry.The U.S. Commerce Department had previously found the products from Brazil, India, South Korea and Russia were being unfairly subsidizedand sold in the United States at below fair value, and that the products from Britain were also being dumped. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Alcoa, Alumina settle dispute, clearing hurdle to Alcoa split 

Alcoa Inc and Alumina Ltd have settled a dispute and agreed to reshape their joint venture, removing an obstacle to Alcoa's plan to split into two companies and making its Australian partner a more attractive takeover target.The two companies agreed to enda court fight that had threatened to delay Alcoa's plan to spin off its plane and car parts business, which is now set to go ahead by the end of this year. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - LME to resume ring trading at usual venue on Monday 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will resume open outcry trading at its offices in London's financial district on Monday after repair works were completed, it said on Thursday.The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, moved ring trading to an emergency venue in July after structural problems forced the shutdown of its offices at Finsbury Square.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Workers at small Codelco copper mine to strike next week 

Workers at Codelco's small Salvador deposit will go on strike next week after failing to reach agreement in contract talks with the Chilean state-owned company, the union told Reuters on Thursday.The strike is set to start on Monday after workers rejected Codelco's latest offer and the company said it had opted not to request a five-day mediation process. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Barrick to focus on scaled-back Pascua-Lama project in Argentina 

Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold miner, said Thursday it has brought back a former executive to advance a scaled-back development plan for its suspended Pascua-Lama project that will first focus on Argentina.The gold and silver project, which straddles the border of Argentina and Chile in the Andes Mountains, was put on hold in 2013 due to environmental issues, political opposition, labor unrest and development costs that ballooned to $8.5 billion. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Thyssenkrupp seeks to ease dispute with steel workers 

Thyssenkrupp agreed to intensify talks with its European steel workers in an effort to resolve a dispute over plans to merge the division with Tata Steel  and possibly close plants.Several thousand workers marched in protest at management's plans on Wednesday and labour representatives refused to approve a new management structure, part of a five-year programme to improve the performance of Thyssenkrupp's steel business amid worsening markets.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Bolivia announces mining crackdown after murder of gov't official 

Bolivia responded to last week's murder of a government official by announcing a crackdown on mining cooperatives on Thursday, saying it would return contracts signed between them and private companies to state control.The beaten body of Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was found by the side of the road last week, hours after he had approached mining protesters to talk over their concerns.  Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Argentina seeks to unify regulations to spur mining investments 

The Argentine government wants to unify mining regulations under a proposed federal law that would permit open-pit mines to operate throughout the country as part of an effort to jump-start investment in the sector, a government official said.Argentina has fallen behind its mineral-rich neighbors Chile and Peru in mining investment, despite containing rich deposits of copper, gold, silver and zinc. Local regulations are tough, and seven of the country's 23 provinces prohibit open-pit mining altogether due to environmental concerns. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - South Africa's Impala Platinum narrows year loss to $4.7 million 

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd (Implats), the world's No.2 producer of the white metal, narrowed annual losses to 70 million rand ($4.77 million) thanks largely to cost cuts.Implats, along with rivals Lonmin and Anglo American Platinum, is still recovering from a 2014 strike that cost the industry billions of dollars in lost output and damaged the viability of some mines, leading to job cuts. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 02 - Liberian parliament speaker steps down after Sable Mining indictment 

Liberia's parliament speaker said on Thursday that he is stepping down to face bribery charges in a case involving London AIM-listed Sable Mining's attempted acquisition of an iron ore concession in the north of the country."If my recusal is the ultimate sacrifice that will move our country forward and end this current quagmire, I am herewith recusing myself from presiding over the plenary of the House of Representatives,” Alex Tyler said in a statement. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - China's robust August iron ore, coal imports mirrored in prices: Russell 

China's imports of iron ore and coal remained robust in August, providing a fundamental justification for the ongoing resilience in the price of the two major bulk commodities.Although there are several more factors driving prices than China demand, it's also worth noting that crude oil imports likely slipped back somewhat in August, coinciding with a retreat in the price of global benchmark Brent crude. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - South African mine deaths rise after years of improving safety 

Pakiso Matsemela recalls the day he lost the use of his legs, joining the long casualty list of a South African mining industry whose accident rate is again climbing after years of improvement."I heard a bang and suddenly I was hit in the back by a rock. It felt like a rush of heat," the 63-year-old told Reuters, recounting the accident that shattered his spine at the Northam Platinum mine. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - Baosteel sees China's 2016 steel consumption down nearly 3 pct y/y 

Baoshan Iron & Steel, China's top listed steelmaker, expects the country's apparent consumption of crude steel to drop to 680 million tonnes this year from 698 million in 2015, Dai Zhihao, its general manager, told an online briefing.The forecast from Baoshan Iron & Steel, or Baosteel, comes at a time when China, the world's top producer of the alloy, is stepping up efforts to slash a huge overcapacity that has boosted cheap exports amid slowing demand at home. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - Chile copper mines resume partial operations after fatal accidents 

Partial operations were resumed on Wednesday at Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco'sChuquicamata mine and Freeport-McMoran Inc's El Abra mine, the day after separate fatal accidents forced complete suspension of activities.Codelco, the world's No. 1 copper producer, said it was still investigating the cause of the accident at Chuquicamata that left two workers dead when the vehicle they were driving collided with a giant mining truck. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - American Eagle coin August sales fall yr/yr as prices ease 

U.S. Mint sales of American Eagle gold coins in August fell 42 percent from a year ago while silver coin sales dropped to the lowest since late-2013, as bullion prices came off the highest in more than two years, government data showed on Wednesday.The U.S. Mint sold 58,500 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in August, up 52 percent from July but down sharply from the 101,500 ounces sold in August 2015, U.S. Mint data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Sep 01 - Thyssenkrupp steel workers protest merger plans 

Several thousand steel workers at Thyssenkrupp on Wednesday protested management's plans for a merger of its European steel business with that of Tata Steel as well as possible site closures.Carrying banners saying "Stop steel exit" and "Steel is the future" in a rally organised by powerful labour union IG Metall, they marched to the headquarters of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe in the industrial city of Duisburg, where the steel business's supervisory board is due to meet on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - China's steel mills hunt for high-grade iron ore to boost output 

Cashed-up Chinese steel mills are chasing top quality iron ore to help increase output and meet Beijing's tougher environmental standards, driving the premium for high-grade ore to its biggest in two years.In the latest sign of renewed optimism among China's steel producers as capacity cuts boost steel prices, producers are turning away from cheaper ore with a lower iron content, contributing to growing stockpiles at domestic ports. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Mothballed Ghana gold mine reveals risk of reliance on minerals 

Two years after AngloGold Ashanti suspended production at its giant but loss-making gold mine in Obuasi, central Ghana, the boom of underground explosions has resumed.Lacking any alternative in an area devastated by the mine's closure and the loss of thousands of jobs, hundreds of people broke into the site, dug shafts by hand and grew so bold in their quest for gold they started using explosives. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - For how long will Glencore hold its zinc capacity cuts?: Andy Home 

It's been nearly a year since Glencore announced it was mothballing half a million tonnes of mined zinc capacity.At the time there was a good degree of scepticism in the zinc market that the company would make good on its promise. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Prosecutors to decide in September on Samarco dam spill charges 

Federal prosecutors investigating the deadly dam spill in November at the Samarco iron ore mine, owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton, will decide in coming weeks whether to charge the company and executives, a prosecutor in the case said on Tuesday.A police investigation accused Samarco in June of willful misconduct, saying the company ignored clear signs the dam was at risk of collapsing. The investigation is now with prosecutors, who are deciding whether to file charges. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Aluminium producer seeks Q4 premium of $82/T from Japan buyers-sources 

A major aluminium producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $82 per tonne for October-December primary metal shipments, down 9-12 percent from the previous quarter, three sources directly involved in pricing talks said on Tuesday.The level represents the lowest in more than seven years and reflects high level of inventory and weakening spot aluminium premiums in Asia, the sources said. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Chile orders two copper mines suspended after fatal accidents 

Chile's mining regulator on Tuesday ordered a halt to all operations at two major copper mines, state-owned Codelco's Chuquicamata and Freeport-McMoran Inc's El Abra, to investigate separate fatal accidents."We are concerned that today August 30 we had two accidents with three lost lives," said Rodrigo Alvarez, the head of the Sernageomin regulator, in a tweeted video comment. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - India may auction diamond mine abandoned by Rio Tinto 

India will auction a diamond project that global miner Rio Tinto is abandoning, or allocate it to a state firm, the mines secretary said on Tuesday, adding that the government would move fast to tap the resource.The Bunder deposit, about 500 km (300 miles) southeast of New Delhi and discovered by Rio Tinto in 2004, is estimated to contain about 27.4 million carats of diamonds potentially worth billions of dollars. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Baosteel's H1 profit climbs 9.3 pct as cost cuts take effect 

China's top listed steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel posted a 9.3 percent rise in profits for the six months to June, aided by cost-cutting measures, but warned it was heading into a traditionally weak second half of the year.The revived fortunes of Baoshan Iron & Steel, or Baosteel, after a rough 2015 come at a time when China, the world's top producer of the alloy, is stepping up efforts to slash a huge domestic overcapacity that has boosted cheap exports and caused some producers elsewhere to shut. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Workers at Chile Codelco's Salvador copper mine vote on strike 

Workers at Chilean state-owned miner Codelco's smallest copper mine began voting on Tuesday whether to accept a wage offer or go on strike, a potential headache for the company as it finds itself in a delicate financial position.Union leaders at the Salvador mine in Chile's arid north say they are opposed to the wage offer and complain that much-needed investments are being crimped because Codelco is legally required to funnel part of its revenues to the armed forces. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 31 - Mongolia asks Rio Tinto to speed up work on giant copper mine 

Mongolia's prime minister has asked Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto to step up the pace of construction at the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, part of efforts to revive the country's debt-ridden economy.Jargaltulga Erdenebat assured Rio Tinto's copper chief Arnaud Soirat that Mongolia would honour its past agreements with Rio Tinto, and called on the company to do the same. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Chinese-owned Zhongwang USA enters U.S. aluminum market with Aleris buy 

Zhongwang USA LLC, backed by Chinese aluminum magnate Liu Zhongtian, said on Monday it would buy U.S. aluminum company Aleris Corp in a bet by the billionaire that the nascent U.S. automotive aluminum sector will be the industry's next big growth market. The $2.33 billion deal comes as Liu and Zhongwang International Group Ltd, the parent of Zhongwang USA, are embroiled in a dispute over U.S. import duties amid broader trade tensions between the U.S. aluminum industry and China. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Samarco dam failed due to poor drainage and design - investigation 

The deadly collapse of a tailings dam last November at the Samarco mine, owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton, was caused by drainage and design flaws, a report into Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster showed on Monday. The 76-page report commissioned by the companies responsible for the spill, which killed 19 people, attributed the dam burst to a chain of events dating back to 2009, but did not assign blame or highlight specific errors in corporate or regulatory practice. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - As Beijing aims for blue skies over G20, China's steel mills get unexpected boost 

When Beijing ordered hundreds of industrial plants to close ahead of China's first-ever G20 summit next week, the government wanted to spruce up the host city of Hangzhou and ensure world leaders would gather under clear blue skies. In doing so, China's leaders may have given the nation's stricken steel mills an inadvertent leg-up, helping to restore profitability after a years-long downturn caused by weak prices as a global glut swelled and demand slowed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Russian diamond miner Alrosa's second-quarter sales tumble 21 pct q/q 

Russia's Alrosa, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds, said its second-quarter sales fell 21 percent from the previous three months to 9.6 million carats after a recovery in demand seen early this year faded. The company, which with Anglo American's unit De Beers produces about half the world's rough diamonds, reported a second quarter net profit of 40.5 billion roubles ($625 million). That was 61 percent higher than a year ago, helped by the rouble's weakness against the dollar, but was down 19 percent from a record high profit in the first quarter. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Canada's Ivanhoe Mines gets unsolicited interest, to hire bankers 

Canadian copper miner Ivanhoe Mines Ltd said on Monday that companies from Asia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere had expressed interest in the company and its projects in recent months. The Vancouver-based company's shares rose as much as 15.6 percent to C$1.93 in morning trading, the rise was the stock's biggest intraday percentage gain in nearly a year. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Russia's Norilsk says H1 core earnings down 34 pct, beats f'cast 

Russia's Norilsk Nickel reported a 34 percent fall in its first-half core earnings on Monday on the back of lower prices for its metals and one-off decrease in metal production due to the reconfiguration of its Arctic assets. Norilsk, the world's second-largest nickel producer, has been hit by lower metals prices, partly offset by the rouble's fall against the dollar and by the recovery in its sales volumes thanks to an inventory drawdown this year. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 30 - Russia's Mechel says H1 core earnings up 9 pct y/y 

Russian coal and steel producer Mechel said on Monday its first-half core earnings, or EBITDA, rose 9 percent year on year to 25.7 billion roubles ($395 million) thanks to price increases on its products. Mechel said it is seeing weaker activity in the metals market but that is being offset by rises in spot prices for hard coking coal, which would enable it to remain profitable as a whole, although it did not say over what period. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Chile's Codelco in 'fragile' situation as it makes loss

World no. 1 copper miner Codelco produced more copper in the first half of 2016 than a year ago, but made a financial loss, and the chief executive said on Friday that the company position was "extremely fragile." The Chilean state-owned firm produced 843,000 tonnes of copper in the first half, up 1.4 percent, and made a pretax loss of $97 million, it reported Friday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - What do surging LME copper stocks say about China? Andy Home

A wave of copper is currently washing up in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. Arrivals of metal have totalled 73,325 tonnes this week, lifting headline exchange inventory to 271,575 tonnes, the highest level since October last year. There's no big mystery as to where this metal is coming from. Surging arrivals at LME sheds in Singapore and South Korea have broadly corresponded to export flows out of China. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - U.S. SEC paid $3.75 mln to BHP Billiton whistleblower - report

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paid a BHP Billiton insider $3.75 million for detailed information in an investigation into alleged bribery of Asian and African officials, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday. Citing legal sources, the newspaper report said it was the first time an employee of an Australian company had received a U.S. whistleblower bounty. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Speculators raise COMEX gold net long position - CFTC

Hedge funds and money managers increased their net long position in COMEX gold contracts in the week to Aug. 23, while they cut it in silver, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday. The speculators switched back to a net short position in copper futures and options, the data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Hapag-Lloyd CEO says planned UASC merger benefits to show in 2017

German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd expects to reap a third of targeted annual synergies of $400 million from its planned merger with Arab rival UASC next year, and realise them fully from 2019, its CEO said on Friday. The company, which swung into the red in the first half of this year as tumbling freight rates hurt its business, signed a binding agreement with United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) in July to form the world's fifth largest shipping company by the end of 2016. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Mexico environmental agency defends oversight of Goldcorp mine

Mexico's environmental prosecutor said it had kept regular oversight of the country's largest gold mine, days after a Reuters report on a prolonged leak of contaminated water there prompted activists to accuse the agency of failing its mandate. Environmental prosecutor Profepa said that since 2013 it had completed five "administrative proceedings" on the Penasquito mine in Zacatecas state, which is owned by Canada's Goldcorp Inc. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Bolivia accuses mining leader and two others of minister's murder

Bolivia on Saturday formally accused three miners of the murder of Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes this week, including the president of the federation that had organized protests and a roadblock. The killing of Illanes, who was found beaten to death after being kidnapped on Thursday by miners demanding changes in the law, has shocked Bolivia and presented leftist President Evo Morales with one of his greatest challenges since taking power in 2006. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 29 - Venezuela says signs $5.5 bln mining deals, companies include Barrick

President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that Venezuela had signed over $5.5 billion in mining deals with companies including Canada's Barrick Gold Corp and China's Shandong Gold. The deals are part of plan to ease the OPEC nation's grave economic crisis that has caused food shortages and supermarket riots. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - China's Ningbo Shanshan in bid to buy SQM stake – sources 

Ningbo Shanshan Co Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer of lithium battery materials, is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Chile's Sociedad Quimica Y Minera (SQM), one of the world's biggest lithium producers, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.The deal talks highlight growing interest in the renewable battery ingredient, the price of which is rocketing on hopes of an electric vehicle boom. They are also the latest sign of a Chinese acquisition binge in Latin America that in some cases has been fueled by hunger for the region's raw materials. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - Brazil's Vale expects Samarco to restart mid-2017 

Brazilian miner Vale SA expects Samarco, an iron ore joint venture it owns with BHP Billiton, to restart operations in the middle of 2017, a company executive said on Thursday.Samarco's mine has been shut since November when a tailings dam on the site burst, killing 19 people and causing Brazil's worst ever environmental disaster. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - Bolivia says deputy interior minister killed after kidnap by miners 

Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was beaten to death after he was kidnapped by striking mineworkers on Thursday, the government said, and up to 100 people have been arrested as authorities vowed to punish those responsible."At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly murdered," Minister of Government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - Nickel merry-go-round: Indonesia ferronickel replacing Philippine ore

Is nickel's current rally sustainable or is the metal merely having a strong run because market participants are more focused on the environmental crackdown in top ore miner the Philippines, rather than on the surge in Indonesian ferronickel exports?No doubt nickel is one of the strongest commodity performers this year, with benchmark London futures rising 13.3 percent from the end of last year to the close on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - China's Inner Mongolia cuts coal output by 10 pct in Jan-July 

Inner Mongolia, a big Chinese coal producing region, has cut coal production by just over 10 percent in the first seven months of the year as part of the regional government's efforts to close 3.3 million tonnes of capacity this year.By the end of August, the region had shut seven coal mines, energy lobbying group the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation reported on its website, citing the head of the region's commission of economy and information technology, Wang Bingjun. No other details on the amount of coal affected were given. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 26 - Kinross suspends operations at Chile mine, lays off 300 workers 

Canadian miner Kinross Gold Corp said it has suspended operations at its Maricunga gold mine in Chile, and will lay off 300 employees after a judicial decision upheld a regulator's move to shut down the water system linked to the mine.The environmental authority began a legal process that sought to close Maricunga's water pumping wells in March.  Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Mounting losses, delisting drive Chongqing Steel out of steel sector 

China's debt-ridden Chongqing Iron and Steel is drawing up radical restructuring plans that will see the firm exit the steel industry and shift its focus to more lucrative sectors like finance, it said on Thursday.In a notice filed to the Shanghai stock exchange, Chongqing Steel blamed the downturn in the economy, severe industrial overcapacity, soaring labour costs and persistently low steel prices for its predicament. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Think zinc: miners bet big on revival in key base metal market 

Resource companies are racing to dig zinc mines, betting that markets for the metal used to rust-proof steel and protect noses from sunburn have finally turned after a decade in the doldrums.A supply glut is evaporating as big zinc mines run dry, commodity analysts say, helping drive up prices by nearly half this year and triggering investments in new and long-dormant projects from Greenland to Africa. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Nickel merry-go-round: Indonesia ferronickel replacing Philippine ore: Russell 

Is nickel's current rally sustainable or is the metal merely having a strong run because market participants are more focused on the environmental crackdown in top ore miner the Philippines, rather than on the surge in Indonesian ferronickel exports?No doubt nickel is one of the strongest commodity performers this year, with benchmark London futures rising 13.3 percent from the end of last year to the close on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - South32 profit plunges amid weak commodity prices 

Australia's South32 Ltd, the world's biggest producer of manganese, reported a 76 percent drop in annual underlying profit on Thursday, hit by weak metals prices.Underlying earnings fell to $138 million in the year to June from $575 million a year ago, but beat analysts' expectations of around $75 million for the company's first full year since it was spun out of BHP Billiton. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Global aluminium production is falling, but for how long? Andy Home 

Global aluminium production fell by 1.2 percent to 33.12 million tonnes in the first seven months of this year, according to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI).It doesn't sound like much and in volume terms the decline amounts to just 390,000 tonnes, no more than a drop in the global aluminium ocean. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Philippines could suspend more mines in environmental crackdown 

The Philippines could suspend more mines in a crackdown on environmental abuses that has halted operations of 10 miners, a minister said on Wednesday, dismissing a claim by mineral producers the review was a "demolition campaign" against them."Yes," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told Reuters, when asked if there was a risk of more mines being suspended. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Goldcorp struggles with leak at Mexican mine 

Mexican regulators said they are examining whether mining company Goldcorp Inc broke any regulationsin its handling of a long-running leak of contaminated water at Mexico's biggest gold mine.The move follows questions from Reuters about the leak, which until now has not been disclosed to the public. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Samarco to sound out bondholders for debt plan, sources say 

Samarco Mineração SA, the Brazilian iron ore joint venture that halted operations after a dam burst last year, plans to seek bondholder consent to change terms on $2.2 billion of securities or pursue an exchange offer, two people with knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday.  Samarco is looking for a so-called solicitation agent to help contact and sound out bondholders on potential alternatives, one person with knowledge of the situation said. The people said the agent may be New York-based consultancy firm DF King & Co Inc. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Aluminium giant Rusal expects tough second half of year 

Russian aluminium giant Rusal on Thursday reported a nearly 40-percent drop in second-quarter core earnings due to weak aluminium prices, slightly better than analysts feared, and warned the second half of the year would remain tough.The company said it was focused on cutting debt to help weather tough markets and would continue to step up sales of value-added products, which it said made up nearly half its sales in the first half of 2016. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - Poland seeks investigation into KGMH's Quadra FNX purchase 

Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) has asked prosecutors to investigate copper miner KGHM over the purchase of a Canadian firm with metal deposits in Chile, the secret services minister said on Wednesday.Minister Mariusz Kaminski said people who managed state-run KGHM from December 2010 until March 2012 may have inflicted a large loss upon the company, a crime punishable in Poland by up to 10 years in prison. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 25 - China's most polluted province lags behind on plan to cut steel capacity

China's northern Hebei, which accounts for a quarter of China's steel output, is lagging far behind in its plan to reduce steel and iron producing capacity, data released by the provincial state planner showed on Wednesday.Seven major iron and steel producers have cut their capacity by 3.18 million tonnes in the first seven months of the year by turning off six plants, but this accounts for only 10 percent of the target for capacity cuts set by the government. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Tin stocks hit 7-year low on shipments slide, mining uncertainty 

Falling shipments from top tin exporter Indonesia and predictions a surge in mining in Myanmar is tapering off has led to a scramble for the metal, sending inventories to the lowest level in over 7-1/2 years.This gives potential for further price gains for the metal mainly used to make solder for the electronics industry, already the second-best performer among industrial metals this year. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Glencore speeds up debt reduction with Australian copper mine deal 

Glencore Plc has agreed to sell all the gold and a 30 percent stake in its Ernest Henry copper mine in Australia to Evolution Mining for A$880 million ($670 million), advancing the Swiss giant's effort to pay down debt.The deal will take Glencore nearer to its target of cutting debt to between $17 billion and $18 billion by the end of this year, while Evolution, Australia's second-largest gold miner, said the stake would boost its gold output and cut its costs. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Make or break: Philippine lawmaker says ban ore exports or shut shop 

A Philippine lawmaker has revived a proposal to ban exports of unprocessed minerals to spur domestic processing, in a move that may tighten global nickel supply and make it an even tougher business environment for miners in the world's top producer.The Philippines has vast but largely untapped mineral resources, limiting the contribution of mining to its economy to less than 1 percent. The sector is now facing a tough regime under the government of firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte who has suspended some miners causing environmental destruction. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Rio Tinto's ERA builds cash for Ranger mine clean-up 

Energy Resources of Australia, controlled by Rio Tinto, said on Wednesday it ended the first half of 2016 with A$453 million ($345 million) in cash, crucial for the clean-up of its Ranger uranium mine, likely to close by 2021.ERA is producing uranium only from stockpiled ore at the mine, raising cash to fund its closure as Aboriginal land owners have refused to back a renewal of its mining authority beyond 2021 and Rio Tinto declined to invest in studies to dig an underground mine due to tough conditions in the uranium market. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Philippine miners slam 'demolition campaign', seek meeting with Duterte 

Philippine miners claim the government's environmental crackdown is a "demolition campaign" against mineral producers and are seeking to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte amid a spate of shutdowns stemming from the probe, an industry official said.Duterte's seven-week old government has so far suspended 10 mines, eight of them nickel, for environmental infractions, sowing fear among large-scale miners in the world's top nickel producer that more shutdowns may follow. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Jiangxi Copper targets investors with $300 mln global mining fund 

Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd  said on Wednesday it has set up a Cayman Islands-based fund that will buy mining projects as the Chinese state-owned copper producer sets its eyes on potential bargains as the commodities cycle bottoms.As China's largest copper producer reported a 37.9 percent drop in profits due to weak metals prices, it said it had allocated $100 million through its subsidiaries to establish Valuestone Global Resources Fund I in the Cayman Islands with CCB International Asset Management Ltd, part of China Construction Bank Corp.  Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Polish miner JSW may need at least $131 mln of new capital-deputy minister 

Loss-making Polish miner JSW, the European Union's biggest coking coal producer, may need to raise more than 500 million zlotys ($131 million) in new capital through a share issue or other means, a government official said.State-run JSW debuted on the Warsaw bourse in 2011 when the treasury ministry sold 39.5 million shares or 33 percent of the company for 136 zlotys per share. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - Rusoro says awarded $1.2 bln over Venezuelan seizure of gold assets 

Canada's Rusoro Mining Ltd said on Tuesday it has been awarded more than $1.2 billion by a World Bank tribunal that ruled Venezuela had unlawfully seized the company's gold assets four years ago.Shares in the Vancouver-based mining firm, which is backed by Russia's Agapov family, more than doubled on Tuesday, trading for as much as 32 cents - their highest level since Venezuela's asset seizure. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 24 - South Africa and ArcelorMittal forge steel pricing agreement 

ArcelorMittal's South African business and the country's government have agreed a new pricing model aimed at bolstering the domestic steel sector and reviving the economy.The company was fined a record 1.5 billion rand ($111 million) on Monday for setting prices at the level consumers would have to pay for imported steel, but Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies told parliament on Tuesday that it had agreed on a mechanism that would provide transparent pricing based on domestic prices in a number of other countries. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - LME cuts ring dealing fees in half for August 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has cut fees in half for open outcry trades during August as a goodwill gesture after it had to vacate its premises because of structural problems, it said on Monday.Ring trading moved to its disaster recovery site in Chelmsford, east of London, in July after a potential safety issue was discovered in the building that houses its offices in London's financial district. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - Tin mining - Cornish dreams and Myanmar reality: Andy Home 

Hope springs eternal in Cornwall when it comes to reviving tin mining in this southwestern corner of the United Kingdom.Canada's Strongbow Exploration is the latest to try to rekindle the dying embers of what once was one of the world's largest tin-mining hubs. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - CME Group urgently suspends trader for spoofing 

CME Group Inc urgently suspended a futures trader from its markets for spoofing on Monday, the exchange operator said, the latest regulatory action over the manipulative trading practice.The company, which owns Comex, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other markets, barred Andrey Sakharov from trading for 60 days and could extend his ban, according to a disciplinary notice. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - ArcelorMittal South Africa to pay record $110 mln to settle anti-trust charges 

ArcelorMittal's South African unit has agreed to pay a record 1.5 billion rand ($110 million) fine for colluding to fix steel prices, the competition watchdog said on Monday.The Competition Commission launched an investigation in 2008 after concerns were raised that steel mills had been charging import parity prices, or prices that consumers would pay if they imported the commodity, since 2002. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - Report urges govt inquiry into Glencore Australia zinc mine clean-up 

Plans to expand Glencore Plc's McArthur River zinc mine in Australia should be put on hold, subject to a government inquiry to ensure it can be run soundly and its waste rock stored safely, a report released on Monday said.The call comes following problems at the mine over the past few years, including smoke rising from the waste rock dumps, an acid leak from the tailings storage facility, and lead found in small fish in the McArthur River. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - Global zinc market deficit narrows in June - ILZSG 

The global zinc market deficit narrowed to 18,000 tonnes in June from an upwardly revised 105,000 tonnes in May, data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) showed on Monday.The market saw a deficit of 138,000 tonnes in the first half of 2016 versus a 194,000 tonne surplus in the first half of 2015. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 23 - Japan crude steel output rises for 4th month on firmer exports 

Japan's crude steel output in July rose for a fourth month in a row as steelmakers increased production to meet export demand, gaining again over a period last year when high inventories and slow domestic demand had forced Japanese mills to trim output.July crude steel output climbed 0.5 percent from a year ago to 8.89 million tonnes, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Tuesday. Output, which is not seasonally-adjusted, increased 1.3 percent from June. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Fortescue, Bluescope success shows why iron, steel prices will stay low: Russell 

A year ago it's likely you would have got better odds that Fortescue Metals Group and Bluescope Steel would go under rather than double profits, given the dire outlook for both iron ore and steel products at that time.But both Fortescue and Bluescope reported earnings on Monday that would have seemed fanciful 12 months ago, underscoring that companies can adapt to survive extended periods of low prices for the commodities they produce. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - China's Bohai Steel $28.9 billion debt plan to get local support - Caixin 

Bohai Steel Group, the indebted state-owned conglomerate, may receive help from a local government bailout fund to restructure its debts, the online financial magazine Caixin said at the weekend.Bohai Steel, which was created in 2010 through the combination of four manufacturers, holds liabilities of 192 billion yuan ($28.9 billion) from 105 creditors, alongside assets of nearly 290 billion yuan, Caixin reported. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Chile's copper mining, salmon regions in recession, data shows 

Chile's copper mining and salmon regions are technically in recession after their economies shrank for two successive quarters, statistics published by the government showed Friday.This week, the central bank said Chile's overall economy grew 1.5 percent in the April to June quarter compared to a year ago, and it is expected to register a similar level of growth for the year.  Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Tokyo Steel keeps prices unchanged for third month 

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan's top electric arc furnace steelmaker, said on Monday it would keep product prices unchanged for the third month in September, reflecting a slow recovery in its local market.Tokyo Steel's pricing strategy is closely watched by Asian rivals such as Posco, Hyundai Steel Co and Baosteel, which all export to Japan. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Speculators reduce bullish COMEX gold and silver stances 

Hedge funds and money managers again decreasedtheir bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Aug. 16, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.The speculators switched back to a net long position in copper futures and options, after shifting to a small net short position one week prior, the data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Vedanta CEO says response from Cairn India shareholders to sweetened bid positive 

Vedanta Ltd's chief executive said the diversified Indian miner received "constructive feedback" from minority shareholders in Cairn India Ltd to a sweetened buyout offer, and was hopeful it can clinch the long-delayed deal."We have reached out to all shareholders and we have held constructive discussions across the board ... We look forward to the vote in the coming weeks," said Vedanta Chief Executive Tom Albanese, speaking in an interview with Reuters on Friday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 22 - Russian steel pipe maker TMK considers asset, share sale to cut debt 

TMK, Russia's largest maker of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, is considering a secondary share issue and asset sale to cut debt, it said on Friday.TMK, hit by weak pipe sales in the United States, borrowed heavily to expand abroad about eight years ago and now has assets in Russia, U.S., Canada, Romania, Oman and Kazakhstan. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Kinross to retreat from Chile, puts unit on the block - sources 

Canada's Kinross Gold Corp is looking to retreat from Chile and has put its main assets in that country up for sale, according to people familiar with the process.The move comes at a time Toronto-based Kinross has suspended operations at Maricunga, its major mine in Chile, because of environmental concerns raised by the Chilean regulator. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - China smelters face lowest fees in 4 yrs as zinc market tightens 

China's huge zinc smelting industry has slashed its fees for turning ore concentrates into refined metal by 20 percent as competition for dwindling global mine output heats up, industry sources said this week.The move could signal an impending squeeze in refined zinc supplies and a further run-up in prices that have already gained 40 percent this year, because smelters typically lower their treatment charges (TCs) to attract raw material when ore supplies decline. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Copper - a tale of two South American producers: Andy Home 

Copper is underperforming every other major base metal so far this year.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month price is this morning trading around $4,840 per tonne, translating to a year-to-date gain of just under five percent.And there are plenty of analysts expecting even lower copper prices over the coming months. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Salzgitter denies reported merger talks with Thyssenkrupp 

Germany's Salzgitter denied a report on Thursday that it was in government-led talks to merge with industrial group Thyssenkrupp's steel business."That is entirely without basis," a spokesman for Salzgitter said, adding that nothing had changed since Chief Executive Joerg Fuhrmann said in June that he did not see a benefit in any possible merger with a peer. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Indonesia's Medco to invest $500 mln to build copper smelter after Newmont deal 

Indonesian oil and gas producer PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk plans to invest $500 million to build a copper smelter following its deal to buy control of Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), its president commissioner told Reuters.The smelter, which will have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes, is expected to start operations in 2021, Muhammad Lutfi said in an interview. Part of the funds to build the smelter will come from bank loans, Lutfi said. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Russia could announce auction for Sukhoi Log deposit in early Sept - TASS 

Russia could announce an auction for the Sukhoi Log gold deposit at the beginning of September, TASS news agency quoted Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi as saying on Thursday.Sukhoi Log, one of the world's largest untapped gold deposits, has remained untapped for half a century and Russia has been considering selling rights to the deposit for almost 20 years. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 19 - Mali state mining revenues fell 11 pct last year 

Mali collected 245 billion CFA francs ($422 million) in state revenues from mining companies last year, a near 11 percent fall on the previous year, owing to stagnant production and lower gold prices, the statistics office said on Thursday.The figure came in lower than the 275 billion CFA francs in 2014, despite Mali exporting a record 70.2 tonnes of gold last year. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - Top steel firms' debt level totals record $150 billion - EY 

Debt in the world's top 30 steel companies totals a record $150 billion, international accountancy firm EY said on Thursday, adding governments' action to support the sector would work only if matched with more radical industry restructuring.Overcapacity and weak steel prices have piled pressure on firms such as Tata Steel, which is in merger talks with German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - China's top nickel smelter says supply shortage to last, worth long bet 

China's nickel prices rally has just started and has a long-term investment value thanks to the sustainable shortage of supply over next few years and booming demand from new areas, the country's top nickel smelter said."Nickel prices are still at historical lows, therefore there is big investment potential," said Yang Zhiqiang, chairman of Jinchuan Group, on Wednesday on the company's website. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - Premium of zinc over lead retreats after hitting 9-year peak 

The premium of the zinc price over sister metal lead is due to extend its decline in coming weeks after touching a high of close to $500 last week, the strongest since 2007.Zinc is expected to struggle to hit fresh peaks as investors worry about possible restarts of closed mines at the same time lead moves into its strongest seasonal period for demand. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - Rio prosecutors investigate tax breaks for ThyssenKrupp plant 

Rio de Janeiro prosecutors opened a criminal investigation to evaluate the legality of tax breaks given to German steel group ThyssenKrupp AG by Rio's city and state governments, the prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.The investigation aims to find out whether or not Rio authorities broke laws regarding the concession of fiscal incentives to ThyssenKrupp large steel slab plant built in Rio, the Companhia Siderurgica do Atlantico (CSA). Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - Australia's Whitehaven beats profit forecast amid coal resurgence 

Australia's Whitehaven Coal Ltd on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected annual profit on the back of higher coal sales in Asia.Net profit by the producer of coal used in power generation and to make steel, whose customers are predominantly in Japan and India, reached A$20.5 million ($15.7 million) in fiscal 2016 against forecasts by analysts of around A$14.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters data. The company recorded a A$10.7 million loss in fiscal 2015. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 18 - Poland's KGHM H1 net below forecasts on foreign asset losses 

Poland's KGHM on Wednesday reported a bigger than expected fall in net profit in the first half of 2016 on the back of losses on its foreign assets driven by rising costs and falling copper prices.The state-run miner, which is Europe's No.2 copper producer, reported a 75 percent fall in its consolidated net profit to 296 million zlotys ($77.57 million), while analysts had expected the result to come in at 406 million zlotys. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - Zinc deficit looms, prices up, but output restarts unlikely 

Zinc's sharp rally and looming market deficit has fed speculation that major producers such as Glencore may reverse output cuts, but analysts caution that is unlikely to happen soon. Only when stocks of concentrate and metal sink to levels where higher prices can be sustained will large producers look at restarting capacity, they say. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - China is highly concerned with increasing steel trade protectionism from Europe 

China is highly concerned with increasing steel trade protectionism from Europe and will seek to protect the rights of Chinese steel export companies using legal measures, commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said on Wednesday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - Congo copper output falls 14 pct in H1 on lower prices 

Copper output in Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa's top producer, fell 14 percent in the first half of 2016 to 466,250 tonnes as a global price slump led some mines to suspend production, the central bank said on Tuesday. The decline is hammering the economy of the country, which derives about 95 percent of its export earnings from extractive industries. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - BHP falling back in love with spurned nickel business 

Too costly to shut down and too inefficient to include in last year's spin off of unwanted assets, BHP Billiton's much-maligned Nickel West division is making a comeback. "In many ways, this is the business that has led the charge on making things more efficient, despite a very difficult market," BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said after the world's biggest diversified miner reported a record $6.4 billion loss.  Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - Maduro says Venezuela signs $4.5 bln in deals that include Canadian and U.S. miners 

President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that Venezuela had struck $4.5 billion in mining deals with foreign and domestic companies, part of plan to lift the OPEC nation's economy out of a deep recession causing food shortages and social unrest. Maduro said the deals were with Canadian, South African, U.S. and Venezuelan companies, but did not specify whether contracts had been signed or just initial agreements. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - Indonesia seeking "way out" of 2017 mining export rule 

Indonesia's chief economic minister said on Tuesday his team would seek a way out of mining rules that threaten to prevent some firms from exporting semi-processed minerals from January. Under a rule introduced in 2014, miners of metals including copper are only allowed to ship partially processed minerals until January 2017, when exports of only refined metals will be allowed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - Brazil's CSN nears sale of can maker to Polish firm, source says 

Cia Siderúrgica Nacional SA will announce the sale of a tinplate can producing unit, a person briefed on the situation said on Tuesday, as part of a broader effort to build up funds and cut debt at Brazil's No. 2 listed flat steelmaker. According to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the transaction, the sale of Fortaleza, Brazil-based Metalic Nordeste SA is expected to fetch around 100 million reais ($32 million) for the steelmaker known as CSN. The buyer is a Poland-based can producer, the person added, declining to unveil the name of the company. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 17 - U.S. charges Gabonese man for bribe scheme involving hedge fund 

A Gabonese man who consulted for a joint venture involving a U.S. hedge fund was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe officials in Africa to obtain mining rights. Samuel Mebiame, who authorities say worked as a "fixer" for the joint venture and one of its mining companies, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn for conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - Australia's Fortescue mines data for exploration permit advantage 

There's a reason Fortescue Metals Group has beaten rivals on at least 30 occasions in the last year in securing valuable mining exploration rights in Australia’s iron ore-rich Pilbara region. It's because the company is able to snap up newly available leases before information on them is released to the public, a Reuters examination of state mining department data has found. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - Global miner BHP Billiton books record loss, sees good growth in 2017 

BHP Billiton  reported a record $6.4 billion annual loss on Tuesday, hammered by a bad bet on shale, a dam disaster in Brazil and a commodities slump, but said it expects its cash flow to more than double this year. The world's biggest mining company said with cost cuts and a reduction in net debt it expects to generate more than $7 billion in free cash flow in the year to June 2017, at current prices for iron ore, copper, coal, oil and gas. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - Antofagasta flags lower spending, reports rise in H1 profit 

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta lowered its full-year spending budget while reporting a 2.3 percent rise in first-half core profit helped by cost cuts on Tuesday. The miner said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $571.6 million. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - China vows to quicken capacity cuts to overcome local resistance 

China should quicken capacity cuts in its bloated steel and coal sectors, the country's top economic planning agency said on Tuesday, putting pressure on local officials to meet annual targets despite some worries the steps could hurt economic growth. China has promised to slash steel capacity by 45 million tonnes and coal capacity by 250 million tonnes this year, as it tries to rejuvenate two industries suffering from slowing demand and a massive supply glut. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - EU to boost steel trade defences as imports surge 

The European Commission is expected to further strengthen its steel trade defences, possibly as early as October, industry leaders say, as a global trade war in the alloy intensifies and imports keep flooding into the bloc. The Commision has ramped up trade defences over the past year, slapping anti-dumping duties on products like reinforced bar, cold-rolled carbon steel and cold-rolled stainless steel, ranging between 18.4 and 25.3 percent for imports from China. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - Jana exits gold in second quarter as price rises to 2-year high 

Jana Partners dissolved its share stake in the world's biggest gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the second quarter of 2016 as bullion prices rose to two-year highs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed on Monday. The move came after Jana Partners, led by activist investor Barry Rosenstein, returned to gold in the first quarter along with other investors as spot gold prices saw their best quarterly performance in nearly three decades. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 16 - Philippines' Global Ferronickel may resume China high-grade ore shipments

Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc, the Philippines' second-largest nickel producer, said on Monday it may resume shipments of higher grade ores to China in the second half of 2016 when prices are anticipated to improve further. The company expects a "better performance" in the second half, after booking losses in the first half on lower volumes and prices, and pass an audit by the government, which has launched a crackdown on miners violating environmental rules. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Mining stocks rally postpones industry revamp 

Investors in mining stocks could face years of weak returns as a rally in share and industrial metals prices eases pressure on companies to restructure and curb oversupply. The mining sector is known for over-investment in boom times and crashes when demand weakens as economies slow, but many companies say they have learnt lessons and are making efforts to reduce debt and control spending. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - China to use tougher environmental standards to tackle capacity glut 

China will use the stricter enforcement of environmental, safety and energy efficiency standards as well as tougher credit controls to help fight against overcapacity in key industrial sectors, the government said. The world's second-largest economy has identified overcapacity as one of its key challenges and it has already pledged mass closures in the steel and coal sectors, but it has so far fallen behind on its targets. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Thyssenkrupp eyes steel plant closures, says labour official 

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp wants to come up with a new, aggressive cost-cutting plan for its steelmaking division by May, probably including the closure of some plants that would violate a labour agreement, a senior labour official said. Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe's Chief Executive Andreas Goss informed about 250 steel labour representatives of the plan at a conference on Friday, Steel Europe works council chief Guenter Back told journalists. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Philippines' DMCI nickel mines lay off workers, put expansion on hold 

The Philippines' DMCI Holdings Inc said on Monday its nickel mining units are laying off hundreds of workers and putting plans to ramp up production on hold, as a government crackdown has begun to take its toll on the beleaguered sector. DMCI's Berong Nickel Corp will lay off over 300 seasonal workers in the coming weeks while its Zambales Diversified Metals Corp has already let go of more than 100 personnel, the conglomerate told the Philippine Stock Exchange. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Speculators switch to net short position in COMEX copper 

Hedge funds and money managers switched to a small net short position in copper contracts in the week to Aug. 9, U.S. government data showed on Friday, as prices fell to four-week lows amid weak demand in top metals consumer China. The speculators cut their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver futures and options, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Glencore begins arbitration against Bolivia over mine nationalization 

Swiss-based mining and trading firm Glencore said it would begin arbitration proceedings against Bolivia over the nationalization of some of its assets by the Evo Morales government. "Glencore's objective has always been to settle the dispute with the government of Bolivia amicably," the company said in an emailed statement on Friday. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 15 - Mali lowers gold forecast on continued mine closure 

Mali expects to produce 47.37 tonnes of gold this year, lower than an earlier forecast of 52.85 tonnes, owing to a failure to restart its Kodieran mine, the Mines Ministry said on Saturday. Output was slightly up on last year's production of 46.5 tonnes, however, said Karim Berthe, head of the mines division. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita put last year's figure at around 50 tonnes in his New Year's speech. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 12 - China daily steel output drops, offers some respite to glut woes 

China's average daily crude steel output fell in July from a record, government data showed on Friday, providing some respite to overseas rivals angered by a torrent of cheap steel from Chinese mills in the past year. The output decline reflected China's efforts to address a chronic glut, and analysts predict production may shrink further in the months ahead as more mills shutter. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 12 - Glencore shelves plan to sell Chilean copper mine - sources

Glencore has shelved plans to sell a copper mine in Chile that was expected to fetch about $500 million, after failing to achieve a high enough price, according to people familiar with the situation. Along with other big mining companies, Glencore has been seeking to offload a range of assets to reduce debt following a commodities price crash, but a rally on raw materials markets and in the value of share prices of mining companies this year has taken away the need for urgent sales at any price.   Click here to read full stories.

Aug 12 - Nippon Steel says stronger yen could hit Japan steel demand recovery 

A soaring yen in the wake of Britain's decision to leave the European Union may stymie a possible recovery in Japanese demand for steel, said an official at the country's top maker of the material. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp Executive Vice President Toshiharu Sakae said that a higher yen could force Japanese manufacturers that use steel, such as automakers, to cut local output. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 12 - Glencore raises 2016 copper output guidance, lowers it on coal, oil 

Glencore on Thursday raised its full-year production guidance for copper and lowered it for coal and oil, while confirming first-half output cuts that have helped tighten an oversupplied market. In a production report, Glencore said it was delivering on "proactive supply reductions" in copper, zinc, lead, coal and oil. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 12 - Philippines suspends two more mines in environmental clampdown 

The Philippine government has suspended operations at two more mines due to environmental violations in an ongoing audit of the country's mining sector, officials said on Thursday. The move raises the number of suspended mines to 10 - eight of them nickel ore producers - since the Southeast Asian nation launched a review of all mines on July 8. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Gold investment hits record first-half levels in 2016 - WGC 

Investment demand for gold reached record first-half levels this year, a World Gold Council report showed on Thursday, with a surge in interest in exchange-traded funds in the second quarter helping lift total gold demand by 15 percent. Strength in investment offset a drop in jewellery purchases, especially among leading consumers China and India, to take overall first-half gold demand to the second highest on record, at 2,335 tonnes. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - New iron ore tax on Rio, BHP unlikely, but issue is back: Russell 

Here we go again! Another political attempt rooted more in populism than economics to grab more tax revenue from Australia's top iron ore miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. There are two likely outcomes from the moves by a minor, but potentially king-making, party in Western Australia state to about double the amount the world's second- and third-ranked iron ore miners pay in royalties. The first is that the tax hike is extremely unlikely to succeed in the form proposed by Brendon Grylls, the newly-installed leader of the National Party in Western Australia (WA). The second is that raising taxes on Rio and BHP is now firmly back on the agenda, and this boosts the likelihood that some form of tax increase will be legislated. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Copper outlook dims as 'wall of supply' hits slowing demand 

Recent confidence in copper's outlook is fading fast as the impact of Chinese monetary stimulus wanes and markets focus once more on oversupply, potentially putting prices on track for multi-year lows. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange has risen from a six-and-a-half year low of $4,318 a tonne in January to between $4,500 and $5,000, mostly due to robust consumption in China in the first half of the year that was fuelled by monetary easing. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Indian gold demand to revive in H2 on surplus monsoon rains - WGC 

India's gold demand may rise in the second half of 2016 after falling to the lowest in seven years in the first half as beneficial monsoon rains will spur rural demand during the peak festive season, the World Gold Council said. Two-thirds of demand in India, the world's second-biggest gold consumer, comes from villages, where jewellery is a traditional investment. Consumption of the yellow metal should rise as farmers reap the benefit of this year's monsoon and that should further support the global bullion price that is trading near the highest since March 2014. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Will LME consolidate or fragment London's bullion market? Andy Home 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has announced the launch next year of a suite of precious metals contracts, starting with gold and silver and eventually encompassing platinum and palladium. It's not the first time the LME has ventured into the opaque world of London's bullion trade. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Philippines suspends two more mines in environmental crackdown 

The Philippine government has suspended the operations of two more mines, one of them producing nickel, due to environmental violations, amid an ongoing audit of mining businesses across the Southeast Asian country, officials said on Thursday. The latest action raises the number of suspended mines to 10, eight of them nickel ore producers, since the state launched a review of all mines on July 8. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Philippines' $5.9-bln copper-gold mine project hits further snag 

Philippines Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez on Thursday said the $5.9 billion Tampakan gold-copper project in the country's south should not have been given an environmental clearance that would allow it to proceed. "From my point of view that project should never have been given an ECC (environmental compliance certificate)," Lopez told reporters. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - Sharp drop in oil sector demand hits Thyssenkrupp sales 

German industrial group Thyssenkrupp reported an unexpectedly sharp drop in demand from customers hit by weak oil and raw-materials prices, sending its revenues down 12 percent in the quarter to end-June. The steel-to-elevators group pulled forward cost savings to bolster earnings but was unable to compensate for a 22 percent fall in sales and a decline of three-fifths in orders at its plant-engineering division, Industrial Solutions. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 11 - U.S. Steel Canada rejects offer from Essar consortium 

U.S. Steel Canada on Wednesday rejected a buyout offer from Ontario Steel Investments, a group that includes shareholders of Essar Global, saying it was not considering further proposals by Essar, which had been eliminated from the sale process. The offer, made on Tuesday, includes the assumption of C$954 million ($734 million) in liabilities under U.S. Steel Canada's pension plan and a commitment to provide C$25 million toward post-employment benefits for U.S. Steel Canada's staff. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - HKEX core earnings from commodities down on lower trade, higher costs 

Core first-half earnings of the Hong Kong bourse's commodity division slumped by 19 percent as trade in metals declined while hiring linked to a new spot commodities trading platform in China drove up costs, the exchange said on Wednesday. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd's (HKEX) second-quarter net profit slumped 38 percent as falling trading volumes pushed down fees for buying and selling shares and commodities contracts.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Rio, BHP attack Australian iron ore levy plan as damaging, unfair 

Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton on Tuesday issued statements attacking proposals for a new Australian mining tax as damaging and unfair. Brendon Grylls, leader of the National Party in Western Australia, has proposed an iron ore levy of A$5 a tonne that would specifically target BHP and Rio.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Aluminum price-fixing claims rejected by U.S. appeals court 

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of nationwide antitrust litigation accusing banks and commodity companies of conspiring to drive up aluminum prices by reducing supply, forcing them to overpay. By a 3-0 vote, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said so-called commercial end users and consumer end users lacked standing to sue because their alleged antitrust injuries were too far removed from the alleged misconduct.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Aurubis Q3 earnings fall on smelter repairs; co still optimistic

Aurubis AG, Europe's biggest copper smelter, said on Wednesday quarterly earnings fell around 57 percent from a year earlier because of a scheduled maintenance shutdown of a smelter but reiterated its positive earnings outlook for the full financial year. Operating pretax profit (EBT) fell to 35 million euros ($39 million) in the third quarter of its 2015/16 financial year from 81 million euros in the same quarter a year earlier.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Salzgitter posts 80 pct drop in H1 pretax profit 

German steelmaker Salzgitter said its first-half pretax profit dropped 80 percent to 16.1 million euros ($18 million) as low steel prices weighed on its earnings. Sales to external customers declined 12 percent to 3.97 billion euros, it said in a statement on Wednesday.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Ontario Steel in bid for US Steel Canada, including C$1 bln liabilities 

Ontario Steel Investment Ltd, a group that includes shareholders of Essar Global, said on Tuesday it has submitted an offer to purchase U.S. Steel Canada, which has been in creditor protection since 2014. The offer includes the assumption of C$954 million ($725 million) in liabilities under U.S. Steel Canada's pension plan and a commitment to provide C$25 million toward post-employment benefits for U.S. Steel Canada's past and present staff.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Philippines' Nickel Asia profit plunges, sees H2 rebound 

Nickel Asia Corp, the Philippines' top nickel ore producer, said on Wednesday it expects earnings to improve in the second half as prices of the metal have rebounded from 13-year lows, after it posted a sharp drop in first-half profit. Net income in the six months to June plummeted to 24.4 million pesos ($522,428) from 1.49 billion pesos a year earlier, due to depressed nickel prices early this year and lower sales volume.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Indonesian ministry recommends renewing Freeport export permit 

Indonesia's mining ministry recommended on Tuesday that Freeport-McMoran Inc's Indonesian unit be granted a new permit to export copper concentrates until Jan. 11, 2017, an official said. The recommended extension was slightly shorter than the six months the U.S. mining giant had requested.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Hindustan Zinc to double silver output to catch solar wave 

Hindustan Zinc Ltd, a subsidiary of billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining conglomerate Vedanta Ltd, aims to double silver output in five years due to rising prices and increased demand from solar panel makers. The group plans to produce 500 tonnes of silver this fiscal year and double that to 1,000 tonnes by fiscal 2022, Chief Executive Sunil Duggal told Reuters on Tuesday.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 10 - Voestalpine sees no negative impact from Brexit so far -CEO 

Austria's Voestalpine has not seen any major negative impact from Brexit on its business so far and does not expect any long-term negative effects as the company was prepared to transfer some of its business from Britain to other European markets, the group's chief executive said. Wolfgang Eder, who is also chairman of the World Steel Association, said he does not expect the British decision to leave the European Union to broadly affect the European steel industry in the longer term, either.Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - London Metal Exchange to launch gold spot, futures contracts

The London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Tuesday it is planning to launch spot and futures contracts for gold and silver in the first half of 2017, adding to its list of products which includes copper and aluminium. The 139-year old exchange is working in collaboration with the World Gold Council, an industry body backed by gold mining companies such as Barrick Gold and Goldcorp, and is supported by five banks and proprietary trader OSTC, which have committed to provide liquidity. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - Pollution crackdown on China tin producers could spur imports, lift prices 

China could ramp up imports of refined tin as a string of environmental inspections at smelters in the world's top producer of the metal curbs local output. Officials in eight provinces last month began inspecting metals producers including tin smelters, forcing some to shutter production while they look to comply with environmental standards, according to industry officials and analysts. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - Iron ore's rally is starting to look overcooked: Russell 

At what point is the 43 percent rally in iron ore prices this year overcooked, given it remains a well-supplied market facing mounting economic uncertainty across the globe. The answer lies clearly in the volume of Chinese imports of the steel-making ingredient, which have been robust so far this year and defied expectations that growth would be moderate at best. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - Freeport hopes will soon get Indonesia copper export extension

Freeport-McMoRan Inc has not yet received an extension to its Indonesian copper export permit, which expired on Monday, but hopes the government will issue one soon, a company spokesman said on Tuesday. Freeport, which usually produces about 220,000 tonnes of copper ore a day, could face a halt in shipments from its giant Grasberg copper mine if the government does not quickly approve an extension. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - China drafts new rules to curb mining pollution

China plans to raise environmental standards in its highly-polluting mining sector, according to a policy draft circulated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Amid rising concerns about the state of its environment, China has declared war on polluters and has drawn up new laws, standards and punishments aimed at forcing firms and local governments to toe the line. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - London Metal Exchange has no plans for further fee cuts

The London Metal Exchange (LME) plans no further fee cuts after announcing lower charges for short-dated trades last week, which industry sources saw as an attempt to halt a slide in trading volumes. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said on Friday it was cutting fees by 44 percent for member transactions that occur between tomorrow and 15 calendar days ahead. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - Voestalpine expects earnings recovery after drop in Q1 

Austrian specialty steel maker Voestalpine on Tuesday said it expects earnings to increase towards the end of its business year, helped by higher prices in its longer-term steel contracts and increasing orders from the oil and gas sector. Despite the group's focus on premium metal products, the Linz-based company like its rivals has to cope with the effects of sharp price falls, strong international competition and overcapacity in the sector. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - Chinese production drives global stainless steel output rise

Global production of stainless steel was 0.4 percent higher in the first quarter than in the same period of 2015 as Chinese mills ramped up their output, despite pledges to reduce over-capacity, industry data showed on Monday. The International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) said global stainless production rose to 10.3 million tonnes in the first quarter, with China's output up 3.8 percent to 5.2 million tonnes. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 09 - London Metal Exchange cuts fees, but is it too little too late? Andy Home

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has just unveiled a package of measures designed to "strengthen its role as the global liquidity centre for metals trading". There are several components, including reducing charges for position transfers and lowering initial margin rates. The real headline grabber, though, is a cut in the fees charged for what the exchange terms "short-dated carries", which means anything between the next business day and 15 calendar days forward. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - Trading places: clutch of new metal hires signals bet on recovery

A flurry of new metal trading desks that has sprung up this year reflects an industry realignment as bigger players downsize, but in a market still strapped for capital only the thriftiest will survive, industry sources said. At least six companies have won a mandate to expand their metals businesses in the past six months, backed by Chinese and private capital, often set up by traders who have left large merchants. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - China July iron ore imports hit 2016 high, steel exports ease-customs

Chinese iron ore imports rose 8.3 percent in July from the previous month to hit its second-highest on record, customs data showed on Monday, as underlying demand for the raw material in the world's top buyer remained strong. Shipment climbed to 88.4 million tonnes in July, the highest since December and up 2.7 percent from a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - China's July copper imports tumble 14 pct on month-customs

China's copper imports slumped 14 percent to 360,000 tonnes in July from the previous month, customs data showed on Monday, as softer demand in the world's top consumer slowed down buying. Shipments were still 3 percent higher than a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, while total imports for the first seven months of the year were up 19.5 percent on a year earlier at 3.09 million tonnes. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - U.S. locks in hot-rolled steel dumping duties on seven countries

The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday set final anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled flat steel from Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Britain, Brazil, the Netherlands and Australia on Friday, locking in import taxes of 3.7 percent to about 34.3 percent for five years. The ruling, which could still be overturned by the U.S. International Trade Commission, is the latest in a series of U.S. actions aimed at fighting a glut of steel imports as China's economy slows and demand remains weak elsewhere. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - China Shanxi province-owned large coal miners can extend debt maturities - Xinhua

Seven large Shanxi province-owned coal miners will be permitted to extend the maturities of some existing debt, the official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday, citing a document released by the Shanxi branch of China's banking regulator. The document directs Shanxi banking sector institutions to help the firms convert short term liquidity loans into medium and long-term loans, Xinhua reported. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - Lone Philippine iron ore miner suspended in govt crackdown

The Philippines has suspended the operations of the country's only iron ore miner due to environmental infractions, officials said on Monday, bringing to eight the number of mineral producers halted in a government crackdown. The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top nickel ore supplier, began an audit of all its metallic mines on July 8, shaking global nickel markets as seven nickel miners were suspended for causing environmental harm. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - Vedanta Resources aims to close merger with Cairn India in early 2017

Mining and energy group Vedanta Resources expects to complete its merger with Cairn India early next year, a move that would boost the firm's financial strength, Vedanta's CEO said on Friday. Vedanta is among the resource firms hit by a collapse in commodity prices and it is also facing legal action and activist protests over its operations in Zambia. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 08 - Peru smelter may process copper with high arsenic content - Kuczynski

Peru's centrist President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said in comments broadcast on Friday that the country's shuttered polymetallic smelter La Oroya could process copper concentrates with high levels of arsenic if reopened. Smelting so-called dirty copper concentrates at La Oroya might reduce costs for the nearby Chinese-owned Toromocho deposit, which produces concentrates with arsenic content that exceed limits for Chinese smelters. Click here to read full stories.

Aug 05 - China capacity cutting efforts still lagging by end-July - media 

China's efforts to cut large amounts of steel and coal capacity were still lagging by the end of July, the official People's Daily reported on Friday, citing figures from a government meeting. China has promised to slash steel capacity by 45 million tonnes and coal capacity by 250 million tonnes this year, as it tries to rejuvenate two industries suffering from slowing demand and a massive supply glut. Click here

Aug 05 - London Metal Exchange expected to wave white flag on fees - sources 

The London Metal Exchange is expected to cut some trading fees, in a bid to arrest sliding volumes, but lower costs are unlikely to convince those already using cheaper alternatives to return, metals industry sources say. Volumes on the 139-year-old exchange have been falling since trading fees were hiked an average 31 percent in January 2015. The drop has accelerated this year; in the six months to end-June volumes are down nearly 9 percent from the same period in 2015.Click here

Aug 05 - China says it "regrets" EU duties on Chinese cold-rolled steel

China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday it "regrets" the European Commission's decision to put anti-dumping duties on Chinese cold-rolled steel plates, the latest spat between the trade partners battling a global steel glut. China's steel industry, a major employer, has struggled to meet targets to reduce its overcapacity, and rising prices for steel have encouraged firms to ramp up production for export.Click here

Aug 05 - With retroactive action against Metro, LME puts down a future marker: Andy Home 

There will be few tears shed for Metro International Trade Services. The warehousing company has just been hit with a $10 million fine by the London Metal Exchange (LME) for its role in abetting the original load-out queue for aluminium in Detroit. The subsequent splintering of the aluminium price between LME basis price and physical market premium caused collective outrage among manufacturers struggling to find ways to hedge the latter's unprecedented volatility. Click here

Aug 05 - Glencore halts Zambia copper mine output after deaths 

Glencore's Zambian Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) has halted production at all its operations after four miners were killed in separate accidents, a company official said on Friday. MCM on Thursday suspended production at its Mufulira underground mine after three miners were electrocuted, the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.Click here

Aug 05 - Philippine "shock and awe" mine crackdown rattles nickel markets 

As the Philippines' tough-talking new president ratchets up a campaign against irresponsible mining, the suspension of a quarter of the country's nickel mines and the risk of more action to come is spooking global nickel markets. The Southeast Asian nation is China's biggest supplier of nickel ore - used to make stainless steel - and with few alternative suppliers available, the crackdown pushed nickel prices up 13 percent last month.Click here

Aug 05 - Indonesia's July refined tin exports down 48 pct y/y - trade ministry 

Indonesia exported 3,313.05 tonnes of refined tin in July, trade ministry data showed on Friday, down 57 percent from a month ago and down 48 percent from the same month last year. The world's top tin exporter shipped 7,651.84 tonnes of the metal in June and 6,329.92 tonnes in July 2015.Click here

Aug 05 - India extends steel floor prices for two months to curb cheap imports 

India late on Thursday extended a floor price for imports of steel products for a further two months, as the government tries to protect the domestic steel industry from cheap overseas shipments, especially from China. The floor price, known as the minimum import price, was introduced in February - the first time the government had taken such a step in over 15 years - for a six-month period that was due to expire on Aug. 5. Click here

Aug 05 - Japan's JX cuts FY16/17 copper output at Caserones mine by 27 pct 

Japan's JX Holdings Inc lowered its copper output target at its Caserones mine in Chile by 27 percent to 100,000 tonnes for the year through March 2017 due to heavy snow in June and a lack of skilled workers, it said on Thursday. The mine's ramp-up has been repeatedly delayed, weighing on profits of the mine's owners, including JX and Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co.  But the delay is expected to have little impact on global prices in a market awash with supply. Click here

Aug 05 - Strong gold price could hike Randgold dividend by year-end

Randgold Resources Ltd could hike its dividend payout by the end of the year, it said on Thursday, as strong gold prices improve its cash position, although second-quarter profit was flat after its gold output fell short of forecasts. Investor uncertainties including Britain's vote to leave the European Union spurred spot gold to a two-year high early in July. Click here

Aug 04 - Small Australian miners are the canaries of commodity prices: Russell 

Are the strong gains this year in small Australian resource companies a harbinger of sustainable rallies for both bigger miners and commodity prices in general? Past evidence suggests yes. The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Small Resources Index has jumped 66 percent so far this year, comfortably ahead of both large mining stocks like Rio Tinto, which has gained 10.5 percent, and a broad commodity price indicator, such as the Bloomberg Commodity Index, up 8.6 percent. Click here 

Aug 04 - Vale seeks up to $10 bln with iron ore streaming deal, sources say 

Brazil's Vale SA is considering raising as much as $10 billion from the sale of up to 3 percent of future iron ore output to undisclosed Chinese companies, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Under terms of the deal, Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, would receive streaming financing from the companies, said the sources, who asked to remain unidentified because the discussions are still private. Click here 

Aug 04 - Anglo American kicks off major new diamond mine in Canada 

De Beers' Gahcho Kue diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories is expected to reach full commercial production early next year, Anglo American said on Wednesday. Output at the roughly $1 billion project, which Anglo describes as the world's largest new diamond mine, will be an average of 4.5 million carats per year over its anticipated 13-year life. Click here 

Aug 04 - Philippines suspends seventh nickel miner in environmental crackdown 

The Philippine government has suspended the operations of a seventh nickel miner, Claver Mineral Development Corp, a minister said on Thursday, deepening an environmental crackdown that has caused jitters in global nickel markets. The Philippines is the biggest supplier of nickel ore to top market China and the suspension of some mines and the risk of more closures sent global nickel prices to an 11-month high of $10,900 a tonne on July 21. Click here 

Aug 04 - Metals, minerals trader Transamine builds out Australia office - sources 

Commodity trader Transamine is building out an Australian headquarters in Melbourne, by hiring a general manager and relocating an existing staff member, three industry sources said on Thursday. Russell Griffin started at Geneva-headquartered Transamine this month, having relocated from Vietnam after a five-year stint working at Masan Resources' tungsten mine as a sales and marketing director. Click here 

Aug 04 - Australia watchdog to review Aurizon bid for Glencore's GRail 

Australia's competition watchdog said on Thursday that Aurizon Holdings has proposed to buy Glencore Plc's coal rail business in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and will rule on the bid by September 29. Glencore put the business up for sale earlier this year, hoping to fetch as much as A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) and has attracted interest from a number of rail transporters, including Aurizon and Genesee & Wyoming Inc, industry sources have said. Click here 

Aug 04 - Randgold Resources posts flat Q2 mining profit 

Randgold Resources Ltd said its second-quarter profit from mining was flat, as higher gold prices were offset by lower production and higher costs. Spot gold rose 7.3 percent in the second quarter as geopolitical uncertainty and Britain's vote to leave the European Union prompted investors to buy the metal. Click here 

Aug 04 - Indonesia's Timah sees tin output climbing in 2017 after dip this year 

Indonesian state tin miner PT Timah expects its production and sales to increase to more than 30,000 tonnes in 2017, the company's corporate secretary, Agung Nugroho, said on Thursday, from a forecast 24,000 to 27,000 tonnes this year. "Right now we are struggling with production," Nugroho said. Click here 

Aug 03 - Rio Tinto earnings slump to 12-year low, cautious on second-half 

Global miner Rio Tinto reported a 47 percent slump in first-half profit to its weakest in 12 years on Wednesday, and surprised the market with a higher than expected dividend. New Chief Executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques said he was focused on shoring up the company by cutting costs to withstand "uncertain and volatile markets" through the rest of this year. Click here

Aug 03 - Newmont seen in strong position in Barrick Australian mine sale

Barrick Gold Corp's sale of its stake in Australia's Kalgoorlie mine should attract a string of suitors, but its partner Newmont Mining may have an advantage over other bidders in the sale process, industry sources say. Toronto-based Barrick said last week the time was right to sell its half of the so-called "Super Pit" gold mine, a stake analysts estimate is worth around $1 billion. Click here 

Aug 03 - Australia's tiny miners rise from the ashes of the bust 

From gold to graphite to zinc to lithium, Australia's army of "penny dreadful" stocks is rising from the ashes of the mining bust and growing at rates that majors like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto can only wish for. Micro miners are posting double or even triple-digit gains, buoyed by a belief that metals prices have bottomed, while companies that managed to come through the downturn are being aided by cheaper labour and operating costs. Click here 

Aug 03 - Mitsui says Caserones copper mine running at 80 pct utilisation 

Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd said the Caserones copper mine in Chile was currently running at around 80 percent utilisation and that it aimed to further improve its competitiveness under a business plan which was mapped out by a consultant, a company executive said on Wednesday. The trading house expects iron ore prices, which have recovered more than it had expected in recent months, will likely remain under pressure as oversupply will continue through 2019, Chief Financial Officer Keigo Matsubara said at an earnings news conference. Click here 

Aug 03 - India govt body recommends 10 pct import tax on hot-rolled steel products 

An Indian government body has recommended a safeguard tax on imports of flat sheets and plates of hot-rolled steel, an official statement said on Wednesday, to protect local mills hit by cheaper supplies from overseas. The Directorate General of Safeguards has suggested an import tax of 10 percent in the first year, which will be reduced to 8 percent in the second, and 6 percent for six months of the third year.Click here 

Aug 03 - Brazil's Vale signs $800 mln streaming deal with Silver Wheaton 

Brazil's Vale said on Tuesday it will receive $800 million in a gold streaming deal with Silver Wheaton Corp, as the world's largest producer of iron ore attempts to raise cash to pay down debt. Vale said the deal is an add-on to a contract first signed in 2013, with Silver Wheaton now entitled to 75 percent of the gold produced as a by-product from Vale's Salobo copper mine over its lifetime. Click here 

Aug 02 - Australian miners leave clean-up bill after taking the cash

A move by Australia's biggest mining state to support the industry by handing back funds earmarked for mine rehabilitation has backfired, critics say, with more than 70 projects suspending operations, raising fears taxpayers will be left to pay the clean-up bill. Western Australia had hoped the $1 billion injection would buffer miners from slumping commodity prices, but the closures underline the risk that a prolonged downturn could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded or underfunded liabilities from shuttered mines. 

Aug 02 - Gold rally's Achilles heel may be soft China, India demand: Russell

There is little doubt that gold has had a stellar year so far, surging almost 28 percent, but there may be some areas of concern emerging that could act as a brake on further gains. The rally in spot gold to Monday's close of $1,352.85 an ounce has largely been driven by what may generally be termed the fear trade, as investors sought the safety of the precious metal amid mounting economic worries, predominantly in the Western world.

Aug 02 - India's gold imports drop for sixth straight month in July - GFMS

India's gold imports fell for a sixth straight month in July as sluggish demand and record high discounts prompted banks and refineries to reduce overseas purchases of bullion, provisional data from consultancy GFMS showed on Monday. Lower demand from the world's No.2 gold consumer could hurt global spot prices that are trading near a two-year high, but help the south Asian country to reduce trade deficit. Gold is one of India's biggest expenses on its import bill.

Aug 02 - China to prosecute 20 involved in troubled metal exchange

Police in the Chinese city of Kunming said on Monday they would prosecute 20 people involved with the Fanya Metals Exchange, which authorities and investors say was a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. After months of protests, dozens of investigators took over the Kunming-based Fanya exchange building late in 2015, and this year police arrested the head of the exchange, Shan Jiuliang.

Aug 02 - Philippines' Duterte says nation can survive without mining companies

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday warned mining companies to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the Southeast Asian nation could survive without a mining industry. "We will survive as a nation without you," Duterte told a media briefing, referring to the country's miners. "Either you follow strictly government standards or you close down."

Aug 02 - Brazil rejects U.S. anti-dumping ruling on steel, may go to WTO

Brazil will wait for the U.S. International Trade Commission to rule on a Department of Commerce anti-dumping determination on its cold-rolled steel before appealing to the World Trade Organization, a senior Brazilian official said on Monday. The Commerce Department said last week that Brazilian cold-rolled steel was being subsidized by seven export promotion programs in Brazil and passed its anti-dumping determination to the ITC to rule whether there is injury to U.S. producers.

Aug 02 - Monthly Iron Ore Report – GFMS Team Analysis

On 19th July, the iron ore benchmark for immediate delivery to China’s Tianjin port fell by 2% to $55.10/tonne, the lowest since 1st July. The move followed a significant drop in the most traded benchmark for construction material rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. To read the entire report in Thomson Reuters Eikon, click here

Aug 01 - Japan's top steelmakers boost output, but firm yen to erode annual profits 

Japanese steelmakers boosted output over April to June, with top producer Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal posting its first such rise since 2014 on improved prices, but their annual profits are expected to be eroded as a firm yen hurts key customers. Higher Japanese output, at a time when the world's biggest producer China is also churning out record volumes, could dent a recovery in Shanghai steel futures that have risen 40 percent in 2016 after plunging 70 percent over the past six years on a global supply glut. 

Aug 01 - Sumitomo cuts 2016 Ambatovy nickel mine forecast to 42,000-45,000 T 

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp cut its nickel production estimate at the Ambatovy mine in Madagascar to 42,000 to 45,000 tonnes, from an earlier estimate of 48,000 to 50,000 tonnes, due to some glitches, executives said on Monday. "We've begun a maintenance at Ambatovy in June, earlier than our previous plan of between summer and autumn, as there had been some glitches in the April-June period," Koichi Takahara, Chief Financial Officer(CFO), told an earnings press conference.

Aug 01 - Speculators raise bullish COMEX silver stance for 7th week 

Hedge funds and money managers increased their net long position in COMEX silver contracts for the seventh straight week, bringing it to another record in the week to July 26, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. The speculators cut their net long position in gold futures and options for the third straight week, and increased their net long position in copper to a 14-month high, the data showed.

Aug 01 - Mexico imposes anti-dumping duties on Taiwan, China steel 

Mexico has imposed provisional duties on flat-coated steel imports from China and Taiwan as part of an anti-dumping investigation, the government said on Friday, in its latest move to protect the Latin American nation's steel industry. In a statement published in the government's official gazette, the economy ministry said the duties on the steel from Taiwan would be for $0.563 per kg.

Aug 01 - EU raises duties on steel rebar imports from China 

The European Union will impose duties on imports from China of steel bars used to reinforce concrete at rates higher than initially proposed, the EU's official journal said on Friday. The bloc has set definitive anti-dumping duties on high performance reinforcement bars (HFP rebars) at between 18.4 and 22.5 percent and will be in place for five years.

Aug 01 - LME says disciplinary action bought against Metro has been settled 

The London Metal Exchange said on Friday a disciplinary action it had bought against Metro International Trade Services with regard to certain alleged breaches relating to warehousing has been settled. "The LME and Metro agreed a settlement in which Metro agreed to pay $10 million (approximately 7.64 million pounds) inclusive of the LME’s costs without admitting or denying any of the alleged breaches or the matters that formed part of the investigation or the disciplinary proceedings," the LME said in a release.

Jul 29 - Gold miners keep chipping at costs, debt even as profits 

Gold bullion prices have increased 26 percent this year, but the world's biggest gold miners are paring costs and selling assets to lower debt despite the windfall rather than boosting spending. Some investors had expected mining companies to lift spending on exploration, expansion or dividends during a largely upbeat financial reporting season, rather than keep shaving costs. Click here

Jul 29 - Shanghai aluminium heats up for want of cold metal: Andy Home 

Stocks down, prices up. That's the hallmark of a bull commodity market, right? Well, not necessarily. Stocks of aluminium registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME), for example, have fallen by 577,275 tonnes, or almost 20 percent, so far this year.Click here

Jul 29 - Brazil's Vale second-quarter profit falls 34 pct; shares drop 

Brazilian mining company Vale SA said on Thursday that second-quarter net income fell 34 percent as provisions for potential losses from the burst dam at its Samarco subsidiary and higher taxes undermined productivity gains. Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer, reported net income of $1.11 billion in the quarter, beating analysts' estimates but down from $1.68 billion a year earlier. Click here

Jul 29 - Goldcorp puts Los Filos mine in Mexico on block, eyes other sales 

Goldcorp Inc has put its Los Filos gold and silver mine in Mexico on the block and is also looking at selling two other non-core mines, chief executive David Garofalo said on Thursday. Vancouver-based Goldcorp has started a formal sales process for the Los Filos mine, Garofalo said in an interview, and it is looking at options for its Alumbrera mine in Argentina and its Marlin operation in Guatemala, both of which are getting close to being mined out. Click here

Jul 29 - ArcelorMittal keeps 2016 outlook after beating Q2 forecasts 

ArcelorMittal , the world's largest producer of steel, on Friday reported a better-than-expected core profit for the second quarter but kept its outlook for the full year. Core profit almost doubled in the second quarter compared to the same period last year to $1.77 billion, well above the $1.574 billion expected in Reuters poll of eight analysts. Click here

Jul 29 - South Africa's Sibanye Gold says no intention to bid for Acacia assets 

South Africa's Sibanye Gold does not intend to make make an offer for the assets of Barrick Gold's African unit Acacia Mining, it said on Thursday. Hours after its chief executive told Reuters that Sibanye might have been interested, the company said in a brief statement: "Sibanye confirms that it was considering a possible offer for Acacia, but confirms it is no longer actively considering an offer." Click here

Jul 29 - Cameco posts surprise loss on weak uranium prices, shares dive 

Cameco Corp, the world's No.2 uranium producer, reported a surprise quarterly loss due to weak uranium demand and prices, sending its shares down 7 percent to touching a nearly 12-year low of C$12.87. The Canadian company said uranium sales volumes fell 37 percent to 4.6 million pounds in the second quarter, while its average realized price per pound fell about 8 percent. Click here

Jul 29 - Canadian miner Teck posts surprise profit as costs fall 

Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd  reported a surprise quarterly profit as its costs declined.Teck, the largest producer of steelmaking coal in North America, said on Thursday its operating costs fell 15 percent to C$691 million ($525 million) in the second quarter. Click here

Jul 28 - Palladium eyes best month in 8-1/2 years, but history advises 

Palladium has soared 17 percent so far in July, its best monthly performance in almost 8-1/2 years, as it catches up on gains made by other precious metals in the wake of the Brexit vote and benefits from greater demand for cyclical assets. Its surge, however, is closely tied to an equity market rally that many see as fragile, and its failure to capitalise on a tightening market in recent years may mean investors pause before trying to push it substantially higher. click here .

Jul 28 - Anglo American cuts net debt to $11.7 bln, on track for less than $10 bln 

Miner Anglo American cut its net debt to $11.7 billion by the end of June from $12.9 billion at the end of December, it said on Thursday. The miner has previously said it is seeking to sell $3 billion to $4 billion of assets in 2016, including its iron ore, coal and nickel units. So far it has agreed asset sales worth $1.5 billion.  click here.

Jul 28 - Vale 2nd-qtr profit seen sliding 38 pct on prices, output

Brazil's Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, is expected to report a 38-percent drop in second-quarter profit compared with a year ago as iron ore production and prices fell while freight costs and the value of Brazil's real rose. Net profit is forecast at $1.03 billion in the period compared with $1.68 billion in the second quarter of 2015, according to the average of 10 analysts surveyed by Reuters. click here .

Jul 28 - BHP Billiton adds to red ink for 2016 with $1 bln-plus Brazil charge

BHP Billiton will book a charge of up to $1.3 billion to cover the costs of a dam disaster last November at the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil, putting it on course to report its worst ever annual loss. BHP said on Thursday the provision of between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion partly reflected uncertainty on when Samarco, its iron ore joint venture with Brazil's Vale, would resume operations.  click here.

Jul 28 - Excalibur says still keen to buy Tata's UK steel business 

Management buyout group Excalibur, one of the bidders for Tata's  British steelmaking business, intends to pursue plans to buy the assets, it said on Wednesday, despite Tata pausing the sale process to explore joint ventures. "The Excalibur Board has concluded it will continue the development of a series of opportunities that help meet its ambitions and plans to acquire the Tata Steel UK business," it said in an emailed statement. click here .

Jul 28 -  Russia's Rusal H1 aluminium sales volumes rise 5 pct 

Russian aluminium giant Rusal on Thursday reported a 5 percent rise in half-year aluminium sales volumes from a year ago, mainly due to the start-up of its Boguchansky smelter, but the average sale price slid 24 percent. The world no.2 aluminium producer's sales rose to 1.915 million tonnes in the half year to June, compared with 1.823 million tonnes a year earlier, with the Boguchansky smelter in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region operating in test mode. click here .

Jul 28 - Miner Goldcorp reports loss as output falls by a third

Goldcorp Inc  on Wednesday posted a far bigger second-quarter net loss than expected as production fell by almost one-third and costs rose partly due to a maintenance shutdown and slow restart of its biggest mine. Goldcorp, the world's third-biggest gold producer by market value, also said it would go ahead with plans to expand its Penasquito mine in Mexico and Musselwhite mine in Canada. click here .

Jul 28 - Royalties in Congo mining heartland down 35 pct in H1 

Royalties paid by mining companies in Democratic Republic of Congo's copper-rich southeast dropped by 35 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2015, a report by the local division of mines said. The government of Africa's largest copper producer cut its 2016 budget by 22 percent last month in response to low metal prices and cutbacks by leading copper and cobalt producers. click here .

Jul 27 - China iron ore miners' call for import protection is ironic, distracting: Russell 

There is something of a delicious irony in China's iron ore miners complaining of dumping by foreign producers, but what it really underscores is the multitude of challenges facing the world's biggest steel industry.The domestic miners want an anti-dumping investigation into iron ore imported from the world's top suppliers, complaining that low-cost majors - Brazil's Vale  and the Anglo-Australian pair of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton - are flooding the market. click here.

Jul 27 - Barrick Gold weighs sale of $1.9 bln Acacia stake - sources

Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold producer, is weighing a sale of its majority stake in African unit Acacia Mining Plc and has approached several South African miners, according to sources familiar with the situation.Barrick owns 64 percent of Acacia, a London-listed miner with three producing gold mines in Tanzania: Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi and North Mara. Acacia also has exploration projects in the East African country and other parts of Africa. click here.

Jul 27 - Nickel, zinc seen retreating by year-end after strong rallies - Poll

Prices of nickel and zinc, top performers among industrial metals in recent months, are overcooked and likely to retreat by the end of the year even though shortages are becoming more severe, a Reuters poll showed. While global deficits in both metals are forecast to be deeper than in the previous poll three months ago, analysts are wary of current rallies fuelled by speculators, partly due to heavy inventories. click here .

Jul 27 - Freeport-McMoRan takes foot off gas on asset sales, to issue shares 

Freeport-McMoRan Inc, the world's biggest publicly listed copper miner, put its high-profile asset sales plan on the rear burner on Tuesday, and instead unveiled a $1.5 billion share issue to help it cut debt.Freeport's chief executive said he was confident the company could reduce its $18.8 billion of net debt to between $13.2 billion and $10.5 billion by the end of 2017 on the back of already executed asset sales and excess cash it expects to earn from higher mined volumes and metals prices. click here .

Jul 27 - Antofagasta sees full-year copper production at lower end of forecasts 

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta said full-year copper production would be at the lower end of the 710,000 to 740,000 tonnes it predicted in January as a global market surplus shows little sign of easing.In common with other mining companies, Antofagasta has this year staged a recovery from the hammering inflicted by an extreme boom-bust cycle after a weaker Chinese economy cut into demand. click here .

Jul 27 - China gold consumption to reach 1,200 tonnes by 2020 - state media 

China's annual gold consumption is expected to be 1,200 tonnes by 2020, state-owned Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, citing an estimate from a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official. Zhou Changyi, head of MIIT's raw materials for industry department, also said that while demand is expected to increase in the future, current domestic production levels will remain unable to meet forecast homegrown demand. click here .

Jul 27 - Fortescue cuts iron ore production cost target 

Australia's Fortescue Metals Group on Wednesday lowered its production cost target for fiscal 2017 to $12-$13 per wet tonne, down from its fiscal 2016 average of $15.43 a tonne and taking it closer to bigger rivals.The world no.4 iron ore miner also set shipment guidance for fiscal 2017 at 165 million to 170 million tonnes, little changed from the 169.4 million tonnes shipped in fiscal 2016. click here .

Jul 27 - Lithium Power CEO eyes quick growth in Chile 

Lithium Power, the latest company keen to capitalise on Chile's vast reserves of key battery ingredient lithium, is planning to start drilling by September and ramp up to commercial sales by 2020, the chief executive told Reuters.The Australian-listed smallcap, which already has projects in Australia and Argentina, announced last week that it was forming a joint venture with local partners to develop the Maricunga project in northern Chile. Lithium Power is going to fund the development costs starting with a $2 million loan. click here .

Jul 27 - Aluminium Bahrain may increase $750 mln loan for expansion project- CEO 

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has received strong support from banks for a loan to part-finance its Line 6 expansion project and may increase the amount it borrows from an original $750 million target, its chief executive said on Tuesday.Alba will become the world's largest single aluminium smelter complex, boosting its annual output by 540,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes per year by adding a sixth "potline", used in producing the metal from raw materials such as bauxite. click here .

Jul 26 - Looming price falls may force big miners to speed up asset sales 

Three of the world's top five miners will need to step up asset sales in the second half of this year to meet a $14 billion full-year target as they race to cut debt, with a recent rally in commodities prices seen as short-lived.The world's biggest miners predicted doom and gloom for 2016 six months ago when they booked their worst earnings in more than a decade, slashed dividends and put an array of copper, coal, iron ore and other assets on the block. click here. 

Jul 26 - The three bull standouts in China's first-half metals trade: Andy Home 

China's imports of base metals were once the bullish drumbeat to which the global market marched. Those days are no longer.Not just because of the broader Chinese economic slowdown story, but because the country's own refined metal production capacity has evolved to the point of self-sufficiency in some industrial commodities. click here.

Jul 26 - An arranged marriage in China's steel industry troubled from the start 

It may be the Chinese government's idea of creative destruction.Beijing appears to be on the brink of forcing the most modern and competitive Chinese steelmaker, which is itself struggling amid a global steel glut, to rescue a loss making and heavily indebted rival in what some securities and credit analysts see as potentially a marriage made in hell.Listed units of Baosteel Group, the second-largest Chinese steelmaker, and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, the sixth largest, said in separate stock exchange announcements on June 26 that they are planning on restructuring together. click here .

Jul 26 - China cuts 13 mln T of steel capacity in H1, less than third of FY goal 

China cut 13 million tonnes of excess crude steel capacity in the first half of the year, less than a third of its annual target, but will step up efforts in the second half, the vice industry minister said on Monday.Feng Fei, regarded as the architect of China's plans to curb profit-sapping capacity gluts in both steel and coal, said during a press briefing in Beijing that he remained confident China would reach its target of 45 million tonnes for 2016. click here .

Jul 26 - German firm to start metal trading platform for spot deliveries 

Newly-established German company Metalprodex GmbH said on Monday it planned to start a trading platform for the buying and selling of base metals for immediate physical delivery. The aim is to start offering an electronic trading platform in September which can provide delivery of physical metal within two days, Metalprodex managing director Janko Linhart said. No exact start date has yet been set. click here .

Jul 26 - China H1 gold output up 0.16 pct y/y to 229.102 T - state media 

China produced 229.102 tonnes of gold in the first half of this year, up 0.16 percent from the same period a year earlier, state-owned Shanghai Securities News said on Tuesday citing the country's gold association.In the first six months of 2016, China consumed a total of 528.52 tonnes of gold, down 7.68 percent from a year earlier, it added. click here .

Jul 25 - New faces in LME warehousing but old hands still dominate: Andy Home 

The number of London Metal Exchange (LME) physical storage units continues to decline in tandem with falling registered stocks. As of July 8 there were 608 registered warehouses for the storage of base metals, down from 621 a year ago and from almost 700 in 2012 and 2013. click here. 

Jul 25 - G20 officials vow to tackle steel, industrial overcapacity 

The world's top economies will work to tackle excess production capacity in steel and some other industries, including government subsidies that have distorted markets, G20 finance officials said on Saturday. In a draft statement obtained by Reuters, the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in China's southwestern city of Chengdu said that excess capacity problems, "exacerbated by a weak global economic recovery and depressed market demand, have caused a negative impact on trade and workers."  click here.

Jul 25 - De Beers puts Canadian Snap Lake diamond mine up for sale

Anglo American Plc's De Beers has put its Snap Lake diamond mine in Canada up for sale after suspending operations at the unprofitable mine last December, a spokesman said on Friday. De Beers has hired Bank of Montreal to market the underground mine in Northwest Territories, said spokesman Tom Ormsby, but he did not provide financial details. click here.

Jul 25 - LME to continue ring trading at emergency venue until early August 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will maintain open outcry trading at its disaster recovery site in Chelmsford, east of London, until early August after continuing structural problems that mean its offices will remain shut, the exchange said on Friday. This marks the second time the LME has extended ring trading its emergency venue after a potential safety issue was discovered last weekend in the building that houses its offices on Finsbury Square in London's financial district.  click here.

Jul 25 - Japan steel industry says China's anti-dumping duties unjust 

China's decision to levy anti-dumping duties on electric steel products from Japan was unjust and regrettable, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Monday. "Japan has been explaining that exports of the electric steel products from Japan had caused no injury to local industry, but China has rejected our claims," Kosei Shindo, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, told a news conference. click here.

Jul 25 - Speculators pile on bullish silver bets to new record - CFTC 

Hedge funds and money managers continued to pile on bullish silver bets in the week to July 19 as spot prices hovered near two-year highs and increased their copper net long to their highest since the end of March in the week to July 19, data showed on Friday. As gold's safe-haven appeal continued to wane and prices slipped to three-week lows, speculators cut their record bullish bets on COMEX futures and options for a second straight week, taking the total to its lowest in a month, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed. click here.

Jul 25 - Randgold lowers Ivory Coast output forecast on power cuts 

Randgold Resources' Tongon mine in Ivory Coast will have a slightly lower gold output this year than previously expected mainly owing to an erratic power supply, Chief Executive Mark Bristow told reporters late on Saturday. The mine, one of five operated by the London-listed company in three African countries, is on track to produce 260,000 ounces of gold this year, up from 242,948 ounces in 2015, Bristow said. click here.

Jul 22 - Brazil's Vale expects 2017 iron ore output to be below forecast

Vale SA expects full-year iron ore output to come in at the lower end of forecasts this year, and below expectations in 2017, a sign the world's No. 1 producer of the raw material is effectively reining in production at low-margin facilities. Iron ore output was 86.823 million tonnes in the second quarter, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, Rio de Janeiro-based Vale said in a report on Thursday. click here .

 

Jul 22 - Miner Newmont hints at dividend increase as bullion prices soar

Newmont Mining Corp, the world's second biggest gold miner by market value, hinted on Thursday that it will boost its quarterly dividend later this year, reflecting a 25 percent jump in bullion prices so far this year. Newmont, which posted market-beating quarterly profits on Wednesday reflecting price, production and cost gains, will review its gold price-linked dividend at an October board meeting. click here .

Jul 22 - Stronger China leads Norsk Hydro to up aluminium demand forecast

Strengthening Chinese demand led Norsk Hydro, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, to raise its forecast for global aluminium demand growth this year to 4-5 percent as it reported forecast-beating earnings on Thursday. The company's global aluminium demand forecast, revised up from 3-4 percent, is now closer to peer Alcoa's forecast of 5 percent. click here.

Jul 22 - LME trading resumes after four hour delay on technical outage

Trading on the London Metal Exchange's electronic platforms restarted just before 0400 GMT after technical issues delayed the start of trading for almost four hours on Friday. The delayed was due to technical issues relating to members' ability to connect to the market, a spokesman at LME-owner Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said. click here .

Jul 22 - Nucor profit up, sees better performance in third quarter 

Steelmaker Nucor Corp on Thursday reported a higher quarterly net profit as lower costs offset a decline in revenue and the company said it expected a strong improvement for earnings in the third quarter thanks to higher efficiency and a better outlook for non-residential construction markets. Steelmakers like the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company have struggled with low prices, complaining that China has flooded the market with cut-price product. click here .

Jul 22 - Lithium rivals SQM and Albemarle sign environment deal 

SQM and Albemarle's Rockwood, two of the world's biggest lithium producers, have agreed to work together on "environmental administration" of the giant Chilean salt flats where they operate, SQM said on Thursday. As part of the agreement, Santiago-based SQM said it was dropping a complaint it had been pursuing against rival Rockwood's environmental approval for increased extraction. click here .

Jul 21 - HKEX to put LME clearing link plans on hold due to Brexit - CEO 

Britain's vote to leave the EU has prompted the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX) to put on hold a commodities clearing link with its London Metal Exchange (LME), dealing a blow to its bid to make the LME more profitable. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Chief Executive Charlies Li said the planned link-up would now have to wait due to the uncertainty created by the British vote last month. click here.

Jul 21 - Gold is not all that glisters - diamonds act as hedge for the rich

In a packed Christie’s auction room in Geneva, one could hear a pin drop as two anonymous bidders slugged it out in their quest to own the world’s most exquisite blue diamond. The room in the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues was filled with multi-millionaire collectors and diamond dealers, listening intently as the bidders, each speaking by phone to a Christie’s representative, took turns adding a few hundred thousand dollars in a tense struggle dragging on for more than half an hour. click here .

Jul 21 - Zinc starts to bubble as investors pile in (again): Andy Home

Zinc is this year's investment pick of the base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME). The price of LME zinc for three-months delivery has risen by 42 percent since the start of January to a current $2,235 per tonne. click here.

Jul 21 - Global steel output unchanged in June but China ramps up

Global crude steel production was unchanged in June from the same month last year, as higher output in top producer China was offset by falls elsewhere, figures from the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) showed on Wednesday. China, which produces about half the world's steel, has been ramping up output since March as rising prices and improved demand spurred mills to churn out more alloy. click here .

Jul 21 - Casualty of Australia's iron ore war seeks second chance in lithium

Ken Brinsden rode Australia's iron ore boom up and then down as head of Atlas Iron. Now he is chasing a new treasure, one fuelled by a metal powerful enough to propel electric cars to speeds of 250 km (150 miles) per hour: lithium. His company, Pilbara Minerals, plans to be mining the silvery-white metal by 2018, putting it ahead of dozens of other Australian prospectors. click here .

Jul 21 - Japan's Komatsu to buy U.S. mining equipment maker Joy Global for $2.9 bln

Japan's Komatsu Ltd has agreed to buy U.S. mining equipment manufacturer Joy Global Inc for about $2.9 billion, its biggest-ever acquisition, in a bid to strengthen its core mining equipment business. The Japanese maker of construction and mining equipment said on Thursday that it would buy 100 percent of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company for $28.30 per share, about a 20 premium to Wednesday's closing price. click here .

Jul 21 - BHP, Anglo see only slight setbacks for iron ore production

BHP Billiton and Anglo American have reported setbacks in their iron ore production, but analysts said the contraction was nowhere near enough to dent the massive global supply glut that has driven prices to record lows. Overnight on Tuesday, BHP Billiton narrowly missed its iron ore output target in the financial year just ended following the Samarco disaster in Brazil, while Anglo American on Wednesday reduced its full-year production forecast in Brazil. click here .

Jul 21 - Gold miner Newmont cuts cost forecast, beats market 

Newmont Mining's adjusted net income in the second quarter blew past market expectations on Wednesday and the world's second biggest gold miner by value also cut its gold cost forecast, sending its shares higher after hours. Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Newmont kicked off the reporting season for large North American gold miners, which are expected to have benefited from a rise in bullion prices this year. click here.

Jul 21 - Brazil state could ban dam design used at Samarco mine

A Brazilian state law to ban upstream tailings dams, the design used at a dam that collapsed at the Samarco iron ore mine in November, could be approved this year, an environmental official for the state of Minas Gerais told Reuters on Wednesday. Anderson Silva de Aguilar, the subsecretary for environmental regulation, also said Samarco, which is co-owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton, would not be resuming operations this year and may not in 2017 either. click here .

Jul 21 - Global extraction of primary materials to triple by 2050 - UNEP 

The amount of primary materials extracted from the earth will almost triple by the middle of this century if action is not taken, as emerging economies develop and consume more, a U.N.-backed report said on Wednesday. The use of fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metallic minerals has accelerated rapidly since 2000 as emerging economies such as China transform their industries and cities, requiring unprecedented amounts of iron, steel, cement, energy and construction materials. click here .

Jul 20 - EU launches WTO challenge to Chinese raw material duties

The European Union launched a third legal challenge to restrictions on Chinese exports of 11 key metals and minerals, joining the United States in suing Beijing for unfairly favouring Chinese industry. The bloc is seeking formal consultations with China, the first step in World Trade Organization dispute settlement procedures, over restrictions on graphite, cobalt, copper, lead, chromium, magnesia, talcum, tantalum, tin, antimony and indium.click here

Jul 20 - China steelmaker defaults on another bond amid investor complaints

Dongbei Special Steel Group Co Ltd, an unlisted Chinese steelmaker whose first debt default helped spark a bond market sell-off in April, said on Tuesday it was unable to make payment on another bond.  It announced the default on a 870 million yuan ($130 million) two-year private placement note, which matured Monday, on the website of China's interbank market operator on Tuesday. click here .

Jul 20 - BHP to boost iron ore, copper output, but oil to fall 

BHP Billiton said it aims to boost its iron ore output by up to seven percent this year as it works its existing mines harder, after narrowly missing its target for fiscal 2016 due to the Samarco disaster in Brazil. Output at BHP's Western Australian mines rose by 5 percent quarter-on-quarter to 64.6 million tonnes, pushing the annual total to 257 million tonnes against guidance of 260 million. BHP's share of quarterly output was 55.6 million tonnes. click here .

Jul 20 - Anglo American trims full-year guidance on Brazilian iron ore

Anglo American lowered its full-year guidance on Brazilian iron ore to 15-17 million tonnes from 15-18 million tonnes, while reporting a mixed picture for second-quarter production for diamonds, platinum and copper. Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said second-quarter copper output was in line with the same period last year and Anglo was showing discipline in diamonds and platinum. click here .

Jul 20 - LME extends ring trading at emergency venue until Friday

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has extended open outcry trading to its disaster recovery site in Chelmsford, east of London, until Friday after structural problems forced the shutdown of its offices, the exchange said on Tuesday. The LME said on Sunday it was moving ring trading to its emergency venue for Monday and Tuesday after a potential safety issue was discovered in the building that houses its offices on Finsbury Square in London's financial district. click here .

Jul 20 - China's H1 copper output up 7.6 pct on year - industry ministry 

China's copper output rose 7.6 percent to 4.03 million tonnes in the first half of 2016 from a year ago, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed on Wednesday. Aluminium output fell 1.9 percent to 15.32 million tonnes in the first six months, data showed. click here .

Jul 20 - South Africa's Implats revises debt facilities up $278 mln 

South Africa's Impala Platinum (Implats) has extended the tenure and amount of its existing debt facilities from certain local banking institutions in order to further strengthen its balance sheet, it said on Tuesday. Implats amended 3.25 billion rand ($225 million) of its existing debt facilities, which was previously available until December 2017, to a revised 4 billion rand available until 2021. click here .

Jul 19 - After Brexit, ordinary Britons warm to gold as safe haven 

When Britain voted to leave the European Union, the thoughts of Yorkshire teacher Grace Hall immediately turned to her family's bottom line. Three days later, as UK stocks and sterling plummeted, she put those thoughts into action and deposited part of her life savings -- 25,000 pounds -- into gold. click here.

Jul 19 - A structural problem the London Metal Exchange can fix: Andy Home

Some problems you can't fix yourself. The London Metal Exchange (LME) today finds itself operating in "business continuity" mode with open-outcry ring trading migrating east of London to the disaster recovery site in Chelmsford. That's because of "a structural issue" within the Exchange's new home in Finsbury Square. The building remains out of bounds until at least Wednesday, July 20 as "the landlord, building manager, structural engineer and other relevant parties (work) to establish the extent of the issue, its implications and resolution."  click here .

Jul 19 - European aluminium premiums creep lower amid weak finance deals 

Surcharges for physical aluminium in Europe are expected gradually to extend their recent decline due to sluggish demand and as metal is released from warehouses when finance deals become less lucrative. The surcharges, or premiums, which consumers pay on top of the LME cash price for immediate delivery, were quoted at $115-$120 a tonne for duty-paid metal in Rotterdam, down some $10-$15 in recent months and from $140-$150 in early February. click here .

Jul 19 - Banks see more gains for gold, silver after Brexit vote - Poll

Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union has led analysts to raise their gold price forecasts again this year, after the decision shook up financial markets and sparked a rally in the precious metal to two-year highs. A poll of 25 analysts and traders over the last two weeks returned an average price forecast for this year of $1,280 an ounce, up from $1,209 in a similar survey in April, and nearly 15 percent higher than a poll at the start of the year. click here .

Jul 19 - Rio Tinto keeps iron ore mines running at full steam 

Rio Tinto said on Tuesday it was on track to meet its full-year iron ore shipment guidance from its Australian mines of roughly 330 million tonnes, underscoring the strength of sales to China, despite concerns of oversupply. China's iron ore imports grew strongly in the first half of 2016 as cheaper imported ore replaced domestic output, while its steel production has also risen, fueled by expectations of higher domestic construction spending and rising steel exports. click here .

Jul 19 - Chinese steel futures tumble on economy worries

Chinese steel futures fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday, extending a decline in the previous session as slower home sales spurred investors to take profits amid concerns about the world's second-biggest economy. China's home price rises slowed in June for a second straight month, adding to fears that a construction-led economic rebound in the economy may be unsustainable, despite a big spike in new yuan loans in June. click here .

Jul 19 - Congo's small miners fill hole left by downsizing multinationals

His toes bursting out of sneakers several sizes too small, a miner hacks with a pick at the copper and cobalt-laced stone in southeastern Congo, slowly filling a sack that could earn him anywhere from a handful to a few hundred dollars. The 42-year-old father of five, who only gave his first name, Stany, has done this nearly every day for a decade, after he quit his maize fields for the comparatively lucrative mines of Africa's top copper producer. click here .

Jul 19 - Peru says World Bank panel rejects lawsuit over smelter 

A World Bank panel has rejected an $800 million lawsuit filed against Peru for allegedly failing to clean up and take legal responsibility for pollution tied to a smelter in the South American nation, the Peruvian government said on Monday. New-York-based Renco Group Inc sued Peru in 2011, accusing it of failing to clean the soil around the La Oroya smelter as promised when it was sold to the company in 1997. It also said Peru did not take responsibility for legal claims regarding past pollution tied to the smelter. click here .

Jul 19 - Saudi miner Ma'aden beats estimates despite Q2 profit halving

Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden), the Gulf's largest miner, beat analysts' forecasts despite posting a 51 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Monday, as sales revenues declined on low commodity prices. The firm made a net profit of 132.5 million riyals ($35.3 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement. That compared with a profit of 270 million riyals in the corresponding period of 2015. click here .

Jul 18 - Iron ore volatility masks positive shift in fundamentals: Russell

Iron ore's wild price gyrations this year may be masking a small, but significant, shift in the underlying fundamentals for the steel-making ingredient. While seaborne iron ore remains a well-supplied market, it appears the level of over-supply has been diminishing faster than many expected, leading to an improvement in the supply-demand balance. click here .

Jul 18 - U.S. takes aim at (some of) China's metal export duties: Andy Home 

The U.S. government has upped the ante in what appears to be an undeclared but escalating trade war with China. Steel remains the core battleground between the two nations, with the United States and others accusing China of flooding already distressed markets with unprecedented amounts of exports. click here .

Jul 18 - Red-hot rally in gold and silver cools streaming deal bonanza

Soaring gold and silver prices have clipped a deal-making spree for metals streaming companies - the mining financiers that provided a lifeline to the cash-strapped industry in recent years. With bullion up 25 percent since January, precious metals miners are once again able to raise money in the equity markets, reducing the need to obtain funds in exchange for a portion of future mine output at discounted prices. click here .

Jul 18 - China steel-linked commodities futures tumble, on expectation gains outpacing physical demand

Chinese steel-related commodities futures dived on Monday, erasing last week's rally as investors felt the previous gains outpaced physical demand for steel in China, the world's top producer. The October benchmark rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and September iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange deepened losses in the afternoon trading, hitting downside limit of 6 percent by close. click here .

Jul 18 - Speculators set fresh record for bullish COMEX silver bets

Hedge funds and money managers again raisedtheir net long positions in COMEX silver futures and options to fresh record highs in the week to July 12, as spot prices hovered near two-year highs, data showed on Friday. As gold's safe-haven appeal waned, speculators cut their record bullish bets for the first time in five weeks and raised their net longs in copper, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed. click here .

Jul 18 - South Africa's mines minister calls for quick platinum wage deal

Platinum mining firms and South African trade unions should conclude wage talks quickly to avoid the protracted disputes that led to a five-month strike two years ago, mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on Friday. "I wish that everybody can negotiate with cool heads and avoid a strike and speedily resolve these negotiations," he told reporters at a Sibanye Gold mine. click here .

Jul 18 - LME says ring trading moves to emergency venue after offices shut

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will move open outcry trading to its disaster recovery site in Chelmsford, east of London, on Monday and Tuesday because its offices have been closed due to a structural issue, the exchange said in a statement on Sunday. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said a potential safety issue in the building that houses its offices on Finsbury Square in London's financial district was discovered on Saturday. click here .

Jul 18 - Vietnam says investigating dry waste by Formosa steel unit 

Vietnamese environmental authorities said they were working with local officials in the Ha Tinh province to investigate dry waste, belonging to a unit of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, that was found dumped on a residential farm. The probe puts Formosa Ha Tinh Steel under the spotlight yet again - this time for waste dumped inland in the province where earlier this year the firm released toxic waste into the sea and caused massive fish deaths in one of the biggest environmental disasters to ever hit Vietnam. click here .

Jul 15 - China, EU to set up mechanism to fight steel overcapacity - Chinese foreign minister 

China and the European Union agreed to establish a bilateral mechanism to deal with overcapacity in steel, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday.China is by far the world's biggest steel producer and its annual output is almost double that of the 28-nation EU. click here .

Jul 15 - Rare earth metals pay the price of previous excess: Andy Home 

For every action there is a reaction and never more so than when it comes to industrial commodity supply chains.Japanese automotive giant Honda and its technology partner Daido Steel have just announced a materials breakthrough in the electric motors used in hybrid vehicles.  click here .

Jul 15 - China's provinces enlist banks to defy overcapacity cuts 

China's provinces are pushing back against Beijing's efforts to restrict credit to loss-making enterprises with excess capacity, and are enlisting the support of local bankers to keep financing the targeted sectors, such as steel and coal.As part of China's economic efficiency goals, the State Council earlier this year set capacity reduction targets for regional and central government enterprises in such sectors, and China's banks have been ordered to slash lending to loss-making and delinquent corporate borrowers. click here .

Jul 15 - Global nickel market deficit widens to 11,200 T in May - INSG 

The global nickel market deficit widened to 11,200 tonnes in May, as low prices weighed on refined output from top producer China while demand slowly improved, data from the International Nickel Study Group showed on Friday.But strong yearly production from mines in Indonesia and a revival in output from the Philippines in May suggests global refined nickel production posted a strong recovery in June. click here .

Jul 15 - LME says to freeze warehouse rental rates for 5 years 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) took action on Thursday against surging costs at its approved network of warehouses, announcing plans to freeze maximum rental rates for five years.The move was the latest in a series of reforms at the 139-year-old exchange's global network of more than 600 warehouses at 37 locations, which have included tough rules to slash delivery backlogs. click here .

Jul 15 - Japan's aluminium association head sees metal price at $1,500-$1,700/T 

Aluminium prices are likely to hover between $1,500 and $1,700 per tonne for the later half of this year as oversupply will cap further gains, Akio Hamaji, the new chairman of the Japan Aluminium Association said on Thursday."With uncertainty over the European economy after Brexit, it is unlikely to see a strong pickup in global economy," Hamaji told a small group of reporters. click here .

Jul 15 - Stormy seas hit Chile copper exports, could buoy prices 

Choppy seas off the coast of Chile caused widespread delays to copper shipments from the world's top producer in the second half of June, potentially supporting prices in a market grappling with oversupply.Cargoes were stranded at ports as stormy weather prevented ships from loading, said miners in Chile, including world No.1 Codelco. click here .

Jul 15 - KPS Capital Partners backs out of Essar Steel Algoma bid 

Essar Steel Algoma Inc said private equity firm KPS Capital Partners LP had backed out of a consortium that made an offer for the steel maker, but that certain term lenders were still pursuing a bid.ESA, which was bought nearly a decade ago by Indian energy and resources conglomerate Essar Global, had put itself up for sale while operating under creditor protection. click here .

Jul 15 - Samarco seeks huge job cuts as mine stays shut after dam spill - BHP 

BHP Billiton said the Samarco iron ore operation in Brazil expects to cut its workforce by 40 percent through voluntary redundancies as it remains shut this year, after halting production in November due to a deadly dam collapse.In what has been billed the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history, the burst tailings dam at the Samarco mine on Nov. 5 unleashed a mud flow that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless and polluted a major river. click here .

Jul 14 - Silver jumps 50 percent, but beware the devil's metal 

Silver prices have leapt nearly 50 percent so far this year, reversing three years of losses, but history shows investors hoping to hop aboard the bandwagon should be wary.A surge in gold and upbeat prices of industrial metals, along with prospects for yet more monetary stimulus from leading central banks, have prompted some heart-stopping moves. click here.

Jul 14 - U.S. challenges China raw material export duties in trade enforcement push 

The United States challenged China's export duties on nine key metals and minerals on Wednesday, arguing they violate Beijing's commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and give an unfair advantage to Chinese manufacturers.China said it respected WTO rules and that the duties had been imposed as part of efforts at environmental protection. click here .

Jul 14 - China can meet 2016 coal and steel capacity reduction goal - economic planner 

China can meet its 2016 target for reducing capacity in its coal and steel sectors, the country's top economic planner said on Thursday.The comments were made by National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) spokesman Zhao Chenxin at a briefing in Beijing. click here.

Jul 14 - Scant short term impact seen on nickel from Philippine mine crackdown

An environmental crackdown on Philippine mines, which helped drive nickel prices to eight-month highs, is likely to have only a muted impact on exports to China in the short term because the biggest mines have met guidelines, experts said.The Philippines is the biggest exporter to top metals consumer China of nickel ore, used to make stainless steel. click here .

Jul 14 - BHP says unlikely to restart Samarco operations in Brazil this year 

BHP Billiton said the Samarco iron ore operation in Brazil was unlikely to restart this year, with discussions taking place to reduce the workforce by 40 percent through voluntary redundancies."Samarco has confirmed it is unlikely to have in place the necessary approvals to restart its operations in this calendar year," BHP, a 50-50 owner of Samarco with Vale, said in a statement. click here .

Jul 14 - India relaxes gold jewellery excise duty rules 

India on Wednesday relaxed the rules for its tax on gold jewellery sales that was introduced earlier this year in an attempt to address concerns raised by the industry, the government said in a statement.Jewellers in the world's second biggest gold consumer went on strike for six weeks after the government imposed 1 percent excise duty on gold jewellery from March onwards. click here .

Jul 14 - Brazil's Usiminas asks banks to extend standstill, sources say 

Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA, Brazil's No. 1 listed flat steelmaker, is asking banks to extend a 120-day standstill agreement covering 4 billion reais ($1.22 billion) in loans that expires next week in a bid to conserve cash, four sources said on Wednesday.Usiminas has contacted Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Bradesco SA and state-controlled lenders Banco do Brasil SA and BNDES to stretch out the standstill deadline by between 30 days and 60 days, said the sources, who asked for anonymity to speak about the matter. click here .

Jul 14 - Brazil prosecutors open criminal probe into Samarco CEO 

Brazilian federal prosecutors said on Wednesday they opened an investigation into alleged environmental crimes by Roberto Carvalho, chief executive of iron-ore mining company Samarco Mineração SA, over a deadly damburst last year.According to a statement released by prosecutors, Samarco, a 50-50 joint venture between Brazil's Vale SA and Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd, has failed to fully implement emergency precautionary measures ordered by Brazil's environmental protection agency Ibama in the wake of the October 2015 tailings dam burst. click here .

Jul 14 - London gold trade body appoints Bank of England's Fisher as chairman

The London Bullion Market Association has appointed Bank of England executive Paul Fisher as its first non-executive chairman, effective from September 5.Fisher most recently served as deputy head of the Prudential Regulation Authority, and was a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee from 2009 to 2014. He is due to retire from the bank in July. click here.

Jul 13 - Goldman raises base metals price forecasts on supply inequalities 

Goldman Sachs on Monday raised its outlook for zinc, aluminum and nickel prices anticipating supply inequalities to continue across the metals sphere throughout the second half of the year"In our view, the impact of the prior stimulus is still set to result in sufficient demand growth such that we will continue to see supply differentiation across the metals space during the second half of 2016," the bank said in a note. click here .

Jul 13 - China says U.S. deliberately misread WTO rules in steel subsidy spat 

China's Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday the United States had deliberately misinterpreted World Trade Organization (WTO) rules after the U.S. Commerce Department found in favour of subsidy rates for Chinese steel.The U.S. Commerce Department found in favour of anti-dumping measuresfor imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China and said it had set a preliminary subsidy rate of 57.30 percent for a Chinese steel manufacturer, according to a preliminary finding released on Tuesday. click here .

Jul 13 - Peru's Kuczynski to name economic consultant as mines minister 

Peru's President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will appoint Gonzalo Tamayo, a leading economist for local consulting firm Macroconsult, as his energy and mines ministry in his first cabinet, a source said on Tuesday.Tamayo will be tasked with overseeing major policy decisions on mining as investments in the country's key sector have tumbled on weak commodity prices and local protests derailed two major projects in recent years. click here .

Jul 13 - Japan's Tanaka to buy Swiss precious metals refiner Metalor

Japan's Tanaka Holdings said it would buy Metalor Technologies International SA, a privately held Swiss precious metals refiner, to boost its business as local growth stagnates due to a falling population.The purchase of Metalor will allow Tanaka to expand into precious metals recovery and refining in Europe, North America and Asia, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. click here .

Jul 13 - Essar Global investors, others express intent to buy Essar Algoma 

A group that includes shareholders of Essar Global said it signed a letter of intent with a local unit of the United Steelworkers Union to negotiate a deal to buy Essar Steel Algoma Inc for about $900 million.Essar Global said in a statement last month that it did not support a deal to sell Essar Steel Algoma's assets to a consortium formed by private equity firm KPS Capital Partners. click here .

Jul 13 - Eramet's nickel business SLN agrees to 200 mln euro state loan 

Mining group Eramet said that the board of its nickel subsidiary SLN in New Caledonia has approved a 200 million euro ($222.28 million) loan from the French government, aimed at helping the loss-making business survive a severe market downturn.The loan was proposed by Prime Minister Manuel Valls during a visit to the French Pacific territory in late April, but initial terms were blocked by representatives of New Caledonia's northern province.  click here .

Jul 12 - Gold miners expand hedge book by another 50 T in Q1 - report 

Gold miners expanded the global hedge book by another 50 tonnes in the first quarter after hedging on a net basis for a second straight year in 2015, an industry report showed on Monday.Miners use hedging, usually by selling future production forward, to guarantee returns for their output. click here.

Jul 12 - Australia's Port Hedland June iron ore exports to China rise to record 

Record iron ore shipments to China moved through Australia's Port Hedland terminal in June, as major producers BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals operated close to full capacity and inventories at Chinese ports swelled.Most of the ore both companies mine is sent to China, where higher-grade imports are displacing lower quality domestic ore in Chinese steel mills. click here.

Jul 12 - Goldman raises base metals price forecasts on supply inequalities 

Goldman Sachs on Monday raised its outlook for zinc, aluminum and nickel prices anticipating supply inequalities to continue across the metals sphere throughout the second half of the year. "In our view, the impact of the prior stimulus is still set to result in sufficient demand growth such that we will continue to see supply differentiation across the metals space during the second half of 2016," the bank said in a note. click here.

Jul 12 - UK says still offers to take a stake in Port Talbot after Tata pauses sale 

Britain said on Monday it could still take a stake in Tata Steel's largest assets, including the Port Talbot plant, or offer loans in order to find a buyer after the Indian steelmaker said it was pausing the sale."The government’s offer of support via an equity stake and/or loans on commercial terms to a future owner of the strip products business, which includes the operations at Port Talbot, remains," Business Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement posted on parliament's website. click here.

Jul 12 - Low aluminum prices hurt Alcoa second-quarter profit 

Alcoa Inc on Monday reported a lower quarterly net profit, with falling aluminum and alumina prices pressuring revenue while plant operations have been scaled back ahead of a spinoff of its traditional smelting business later this year.Alcoa reiterated its forecast for global automotive production growth in 2016 of 1 percent to 4 percent, but said continued weakness in the North American market would offset anticipated growth in heavy-duty truck, trailer and bus production in China. click here.

Jul 12 - Mexico extends tariff on steel tubing imports from the U.S. 

Mexico extended a tariff on imports of steel carbon pipes from the United States on Monday and announced a separate tax on ferromanganese from South Korea, in moves to protect local production.A resolution, published in the official gazette by the Economy Ministry, extended a tax of 6.77 percent on pipe imports manufactured by Berg Europipe Holding Corporation and a tax of 4.04 percent for imports made by Berg Steel Pipe Corporation.  click here.

Jul 12 - Russia to press on with privatisations after Alrosa sale nets $813 mln 

Russia will press on with major privatisations this year, senior government officials said on Monday, after the sale of a further 10.9 percent stake in diamond company Alrosa raised 52.2 billion roubles ($813 million).The deal, the largest state ownership sale for almost four years, is being heralded as a success by the government - especially as it comes after a period during which investor sentiment towards Russia has been soured by low oil prices and Western sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine. click here.

Jul 12 - South Africa's Sibanye Gold to cut jobs at loss-making mine 

South Africa's Sibanye Gold  has started talks with unions about cutting jobs at its loss-making Cooke 4 mine though the largest union in the gold sector has vowed to fight any reductions.With unemployment running at nearly 27 percent, job cuts are often opposed by unions in Africa's most industrialised economy, which is a major concern for mining companies grappling with soaring costs and low metal prices.  click here.

Jul 11 - Thyssenkrupp says in talks with Tata about European steel plants 

Thyssenkrupp, Germany's biggest steelmaker, confirmed on Sunday that it is in talks with India's Tata Steel about a consolidation of beleaguered European steel mills that are hit by overcapacity, weak demand and cheap imports.Tata Steel said on Friday it had suspended the process of selling its troubled UK arm while it held talks with potential partners, including Thyssenkrupp, about alternative and more sustainable solutions for its entire European business. In addition to its UK operations Tata Steel Europe also owns the former Hoogovens steel plant in the Netherlands. click here. 

Jul 11 - Nippon Steel may ask Brazil court to name new Usiminas CEO -source 

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal could ask a Brazilian court to choose a new chief executive forits jointly owned steelmaker,Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA, if a shareholder meeting fails to produce a bettersolution, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said on Friday.Nippon Steel has sued fellow controlling shareholder Ternium over the management of Usiminas, as the Brazilian steelmaker is known. click here .

Jul 11 - Essar Steel Minnesota files for chapter 11 bankruptcy 

Essar Steel Minnesota LLC, a U.S. affiliate of India's shipping, natural resources and power conglomerate Essar Global Group, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday.The company's assets and liabilities are estimated to be worth between $1 billion and $10 billion, according to a court filing in the District of Delaware. click here.

Jul 11 - Speculators take record bullish COMEX gold, silver stances 

Hedge funds and money managers again raisedtheir net long positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts to record highs in the week to July 5, as safe-haven assets gained appeal after the June 23 vote by Britain to leave the European Union, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.The speculators switched to a net long position in copper futures and options, the data showed. click here .

Jul 11 - Russia's RDIF, co-investors bought half of Alrosa share offer - source 

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and its co-investors, including sovereign funds in the Middle East and Asia, have bought about half of the shares in state-controlled diamond miner Alrosa offered in a placing, a source familiar with the process said.However, the stake bought by the state-backed RDIF is significantly smaller than those taken by the international funds, the source said, adding that there were Western investors among them. click here .

Jul 11 - Hobbled by 2014 strike, South Africa platinum producers brace for wage talks 

The world's top platinum miners face tough wage talks next week with South Africa's hardline unions, having seen their balance sheets battered and the capacity for big pay hikes limited by low prices and the effects of a five-month strike in 2014.The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) plans to demand rises of more than 50 percent, while a smaller union demanded 20 percent. click here .

Jul 11 - Strike begins at Anglo American's El Soldado mine in Chile 

Workers at Anglo American's small El Soldado copper mine in Chile began a strike on Friday after failing to reach agreement in contract talks, a union official told Reuters.The union said operations ceased at 8 a.m. local time (1200 GMT), withworkers continuing only essential shifts at the mine, which produced around 36,000 tonnes of copper last year, less than 1 percent of Chile's overall 5.76 million tonnes. click here .

Jul 11 - Congo agrees to mining companies' demands to resume VAT repayments 

Democratic Republic of Congo will resume value-added tax reimbursements owed to mining companies and suspend VAT on their imports, the finance minister said on Friday, aiming to help the sector weather the commodities slump.The government of Africa's largest copper producer suspended the reimbursements in April, seeking to shore up the Congolese franc amid the slowdown in the mining and oil sectors. click here

Jul 08 - Philippines suspends 2 nickel mines, halts permits in environmental crackdown 

The Philippines has ordered the suspension of operations at two nickel ore mines for environmental violations and halted the issuance of exploration permits as a nationwide crackdown led by a new mining minister begins.The move could curb nickel ore shipments from the Southeast Asian country, the top supplier to No. 1 market China, and push up global prices further. click here .

Jul 08 - Liberty to bid for Tata Steel units, Port Talbot sale on ice - source 

Liberty House Group plans to bid for two units of Tata Steel's British business - specialty steels and pipeline tubes - which operate independently of its Port Talbot plant and related assets that were put up for sale earlier this year, an industry source told Reuters."Liberty will be bidding but that's not the solution to the lack of competitiveness of the UK steel industry. If Tata don't want to continue here but are forced to hold on (to Port Talbot), there's a great danger the business will decline," said an industry source close to Liberty. click here .

Jul 08 - Australia cuts 2016, 2017 iron ore forecasts on supply glut 

Australia on Friday signalled it sees the current rally in iron ore prices coming to an end, cutting its price forecasts over the next 18 months to reflect an industry grappling with oversupply and weak demand.The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science cut its 2016 forecast for the country's biggest export earner by nearly 2 percent to an average of $44.20 a tonne and by 20 percent to $44 in 2017. click here .

Jul 08 - China govt-run steel, coal firms to cut 10 pct of capacity in 2 yrs - regulator

China's central-government run steel and coal firms will cut capacity by around 10 percent in the coming two years, and by 15 percent by 2020, as part of their efforts to tackle gluts in the sectors, the state asset regulator said on Friday.The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) held a meeting with the 25 coal and steel firms under its jurisdiction at the end of June, it said. click here .

Jul 08 - Chile 2016 copper output seen down 0.5 pct, up 3.1 pct next year 

World No.1 copper exporter Chile is expected to produce 5.74 million tonnes of the metal in 2016, a 0.5 percent decrease from a year earlier, state copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday.Next year, copper output is expected to increase 3.1 percent to 5.92 million tonnes. click here .

Jul 08 - Kyrgyzstan votes against Centerra's Thompson Creek takeover 

Kyrgyzstan's state gold company Kyrgyzaltyn has voted against a planned $1.1 billion takeover of Thompson Creek Metals by Canadian miner Centerra Gold.Kyrgyzaltyn, which has a 33 percent stake in Centerra, said on Thursday it had not been informed about the planned deal in advance and opposed it because the move would dilute Kyrgyzaltyn's holdings. click here .

Jul 08 - U.S.-based gold funds attract most money since February - Lipper 

Investors poured the most money into U.S.-based funds invested in precious metals since February, adding $2 billion to these funds in the latest week, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday.Fund investors bid up gold and other precious metals prices during the seven-day period ended July 6 as markets took cover following Britain's June 23 vote to exit the European Union, a process often referred to as Brexit. click here .

Jul 08 - South Africa's AMCU union to start wage talks with platinum firms next week 

The largest union in South Africa's platinum industry said on Thursday it would be demanding higher wages for its members when it begins wage talks next week with Anglo American Platinum, Impala and Lonmin.The union will seek a net salary of 12,500 rand ($853) as minimum wage for its lowest paid members who now take home around 8,000 rand or a 56 percent increase, and a 15 percent hike for higher paid employees when the talks start on July 12.  click here .

Jul 08 - U.S. agrees to clean-up deal with bankrupt miner, hopes for payment 

The U.S. government agreed to a mine clean-up deal that allows coal producer Alpha Natural Resources to exit bankruptcy, despite concerns that Alpha will be unable to fund $400 million in commitments, a government lawyer told a court on Thursday. The agreement stems from an industry subsidy that allows coal companies to self-insure the environmental costs of mining, called self-bonding, rather than set aside cash or other collateral. click here .

Jul 08 - Eramet seeks new partners for Indonesia's Weda Bay nickel project -CEO 

French mining and metals group Eramet said on Thursday it was seeking new partners for its Weda Bay nickel project in Indonesia after two Japanese partners left."We are seeking partners. We've contacted some other groups including Japanese companies," Eramet chairman and chief executive Patrick Buffet told a news conference in Tokyo. click here .

Jul 07 - UK renews pre-Brexit financial aid pledge for Tata Steel 

The British government's offer of financial aid to Tata Steel UK and to potential buyers of its assets here is still on the table, business minister Anna Soubry said on Wednesday, despite Britain's shock vote last month to leave the European Union. Seeking to avoid thousands of job losses, the government had offered millions of pounds in support for the company and its potential buyers. It also pledged to take a 25 percent equity stake in Tata Steel UK and reform the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS). click here .

Jul 07 - Russia starts sale of stake in diamond producer Alrosa 

Russia on Wednesday launched the sale of a stake in diamond producer Alrosa as part of a privatisation programme to help to bolster government finances which have been hit by weak oil prices. Alrosa is the world's largest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms. Together with Anglo American's unit De Beers, they produce about half the world's rough diamonds. click here. 

Jul 07 - Tata Steel to further delay decision over UK Port Talbot plant - BBC

Tata Steel TISC.NS will announce the sale of some of its speciality businesses in Britain but further delay a decision on the future of its Port Talbot plant, which it put up for sale earlier this year, the BBC reported. Britain's Business Secretary Sajid Javid is due in Mumbai on Thursday to meet Tata Chairman Cyrus Mistry and the BBC said that the Brexit vote had partly caused the delay in selling the Port Talbot facility in southern Wales. click here.

Jul 07 - DoubleLine's Gundlach: Gold remains best investment in 'shaky' world 

Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said on Wednesday that gold remains the best investment amid fears of instability in the European Union and prolonged global stagnation, as well as concerns over the effectiveness of central bank policies. "Things are shaky and feeling dangerous,” Gundlach said in a telephone interview. “I am not selling gold.” click here.

Jul 07 - Dominion Diamond sees encouraging acquisition prospects in Canada 

Dominion Diamond Corp, Canada's biggest publicly traded diamond miner, is keeping an eye out for acquisitions in Canada where some prospects are "very encouraging," its chief executive said on Wednesday. Dominion, which owns stakes in two of Canada's biggest diamond mines, Ekati and Diavik, is looking for a new chief financial officer who has been involved in a lot of mining mergers and acquisitions, CEO Brendan Bell said. click here.

Jul 07 - Myanmar annual jade and gem emporium sale nets $592 mln 

Proceeds from Myanmar's annual sale of jade, gems and pearls totalled 533.49 million euros ($592.12 million), down nearly 10 percent from 2015, government data showed. More than 2,000 gem merchants, many from neighboring China, attended the sale in the capital Naypyitaw from June 24 to July 6, the official Myanmar Alin Daily reported. click here.

Jul 06 - Large inventories a major hurdle for nickel price rally 

Nickel bulls have been invigorated by the prospect of demand exceeding supply for the first time in years, but large stocks mean the recent price rally could soon fizzle out.Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange hit an eight-month high of $10,410 a tonne on Monday, a gain of 37 percent since a 13-year low of $7,555 in February. click here .

Jul 06 - Nippon Steel says Usiminas split possible but negotiations not started 

A split-up of Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas between controlling shareholders remains an option for resolving a two-year boardroom dispute, but negotiations have not yet started, the top executive in Brazil for one of the parties said on Tuesday.Yoichi Furuta, chief executive for Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal in Brazil, told reporters the Japanese company remains committed to Brazil and Usiminas. click here .

Jul 06 - Japan aluminium buyers work out up to 23 pct drop in Q3 premiums 

Japanese aluminium buyers have sorted out lower premiums for the metal in the July to September quarter, as much as 23 percent less than the previous quarter, on weaker spot premiums, six sources directly involved in the quarterly pricing talks said.The buyers have agreed to pay producers a premium of $90 to $93 per tonne for metal to be shipped this quarter, down between 19 percent and 23 percent from last quarter, the sources said. click here .

Jul 06 - Germany's BDI warns on rare metals supply 

More needs to be done to address trade barriers that are endangering the supply in Germany of some commodities, especially rare metals and rare earths, the head of industry association BDI said on Tuesday."The theme of security of commodity supply (must go) higher on the political agenda," BDI President Ulrich Grillo said. click here.

Jul 06 - Centerra Gold to buy Thompson Creek Metals for $1.1 bln including debt 

Canadian mining company Centerra Gold agreed on Tuesday to buy U.S. –based miner Thompson Creek Metals for around $1.1 billion in shares and cash, including paying off nearly $900 million of debt, to expand its operations in North America.Centerra, whose main asset is the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, has wanted to reduce its exposure to the impoverished Asian nation, which has in recent months escalated its rhetoric against the miner as it guns for a bigger slice of its profits. click here.

Jul 05 - Rio Tinto chief shelves giant Guinea iron ore project - newspaper 

Rio Tinto has shelved its $20 billion Simandou iron ore project in Guinea because of a sustained slump in prices, the company's new Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in an interview with The Times newspaper.Rio Tinto declined to comment on the article.  click here .

Jul 05 - Low scrap metal prices hurting even U.S. garbage scavengers

Erica spends four hours daily walking miles of Milwaukee streets and alleys, digging through garbage and stuffing her red plastic grocery cart with aluminum cans and other small metal items to sell to support her three children.The 34-year-old scavengerhas had to work longer and harder over the past year, underlining how a drastic decline in scrap metal and commodity prices has hurt even the poor who collect discarded metal to sell to scrap yards. click here .

Jul 05 - Chile's Escondida copper mine to spend $180 mln on concentrator 

Chile's Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, said on Monday that it will invest $180 million to revamp an older concentrator plant with processing capacity of some 100,000 tonnes per day.Escondida has three concentrators, and once all of them are up and running, the mine expects to produce around 1.2 million tonnes of copper annually for the next decade. The mine, nestled high in Chile's arid Atacama desert, produced 1.15 million tonnes in 2015. click here .

Jul 05 - India may alter minimum import price list for steel sector 

India may alter the list of steel items that attract a minimum import price if the country decides to continue with the protectionist measure beyond August, steel secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.India imposed the minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products in February, helping cut inbound shipments last month to their lowest level in at least 14 months. The MIP expires in August. click here .

Jul 05 - Thyssenkrupp plans further shakeup of Industrial Solutions 

German industrial group Thyssenkrupp announced a further shakeup of its Industrial Solutions unit, which it is restructuring in the face of weak demand for plant engineering and challenges in its naval business.The unit is Thyssenkrupp's main heavy manufacturing business whose activities range from shipbuilding to mining technology to automotive engineering systems. But it has been hit as customers have been reluctant to invest in large projects because of weak oil and raw material prices, and its naval business lost out on a $40 billion Australian defense contract to French rival DCNS in April. click here .

Jul 05 - As lithium market booms, explorer Neo Lithium eyes Toronto listing 

Neo Lithium Corp, a small lithium exploration company with a recent discovery in Argentina, is planning to list on Canada's TSX Venture Exchange around July 15, its chief executive, Waldo Perez, said on Monday.The company, which owns the 3Q brine-reservoir lithium project in northwest Argentina, is fully funded for now after three recent rounds of financing brought in C$18 million ($14.01 million), Perez said in an interview.  click here .

Jul 04 - Silver targets $20/oz threshold after push to near 2-year highs 

Silver's price charts are signalling further gains after it rallied to near two-year highs on Friday on a combination of rebounding appetite for industrial assets, and rising demand for bullion after last week's shock Brexit vote.Silver, which acts as both as an investment vehicle like gold, and an industrial metal like copper, hit a peak of $19.40 an ounce as the prospect of further interest rate cuts lifted cyclical assets, while concerns over Britain's imminent exit from the European Union boosted gold as a haven from risk. click here .

Jul 04 - BHP, Vale to fight reinstated $6 bln claim for Samarco disaster 

BHP Billiton and Vale SA said on Friday they would appeal a Brazilian court's decision to reinstate a $6 billion public civil claim from Brazilian authorities over last year's Samarco iron ore mine disaster.Samarco, along with BHP and 50-50 joint-venture partner Vale, had agreed in March to settle that claim with staggered payments over a 15-year period, with the total amount dictated by the clean-up and repairs. click here .

Jul 04 - Speculators lift bullish gold stance to record amid Brexit vote

Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts to record highs in the week to June 28, which included the surprise "Brexit" vote by Britain to leave the European Union, U.S. government data showed on Friday.The speculators lowered their net short position in copper futures and options, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed. click here .

Jul 04 - Adani plans $1.5 bln copper smelter to boost solar ambitions - source 

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani-controlled conglomerate Adani Enterprises plans to build a copper smelter with an eye to furthering its ambitions in the solar sector, said a source familiar with the plan.The company recently sought environmental approval to set up a 1-million-tonne-per-year copper smelter in the western state of Gujarat, according to an application submitted by the company which was reviewed early this month by the Environment Ministry.  click here .

Jul 04 - Philippines to review all mines as environmentalist takes the helm 

The Philippines will review all mines operating in the country, the new mining minister said on Friday, as the committed environmentalist vowed to determine whether the industry is hurting the Southeast Asian nation.Regina Lopez's appointment to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has sent shockwaves through the mining sector, which fears a nationwide crackdown. click here .

Jul 04 - Vale says sold three Valemax iron ore ships to ICBC for $296 mln 

Brazil's Vale SA said it has sold three of its giant "Valemax" iron ore ships to a group led by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, continuing efforts to unload assets to cut debt and focus investment on its main mining activities.Vale will receive $269 million for the ships when they are delivered to the Chinese-led group, likely in August, Vale said in a statement late on Thursday. click here .

Jul 01 - Rio Tinto's young guns herald new era of growth for miners 

After a rapid rise at Rio Tinto, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, 44, is the youngest boss at a major mining company: the first in a generation that will need to shift from an era of cuts to one of cautious growth.The mining industry, worth nearly $2.5 trillion at its peak in 2011, has reeled from the excesses of the boom years, when companies turned to frenzied dealmaking and building to keep up with China's insatiable appetite for raw materials. click here .

Jul 01 - BHP says will fight $6 bln claim over Samarco disaster 

BHP Billiton on Friday said it would appeal against the decision by a Brazilian court to reinstate a $6 billion public civil claim over last year's Samarco iron ore mine disaster.BHP and 50-50 joint-venture partner Vale had agreed on a $2.3 billion settlement in March, but Brazil's Superior Court has responded to an appeal from the Federal Prosecutor's Office by issuing an interim order suspending its ratification.  click here .

Jul 01 - Philippine mining set for bumpy ride under Duterte administration 

After the Philippines became the top supplier of nickel ore to China in the last two years, its struggling mining industry may have felt like it was turning a corner.But hope in the industry of getting an easier ride exploiting minerals in a country with a strong anti-mining lobby now looks misplaced with the new administration of President Rodrigo Duterte sending tough messages on mining.  click here .

Jul 01 - Indonesian group to buy 82.2 pct of copper-gold miner for $2.6 bln 

An Indonesian investor group consisting of oil and gas tycoon Arifin Panigoro and banker Agus Projosasmito will spend $2.6 billion to buy 82.2 percent of Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), which operates Indonesia's second-biggest copper and gold mine.The deal, announced on Thursday, highlights how a slump in commodity prices due to oversupply and slowing demand in China has made asset valuations more attractive, spurring merger and acquisition activities. click here .

Jul 01 - Macquarie, Orion quit metals warehousing after 3 years - source 

Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd and Orion Mine Finance have sold their stakes in the small British metal warehousing company, Scale Distribution, a source said on Thursday, the latest firms to quit the business as regulation crimps profits.The sale ends a three-year foray into the lucrative storage business, highlighting how tougher regulatory oversight and sweeping rule changes by the London Metal Exchange have made it harder for warehouses to capture the fat profits that lured merchants and banks like Glencore, Goldman Sachs Group Inc into storage in 2010.  click here .

Jul 01 - London gold trade agrees reforms to boost transparency 

The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has taken steps to help to preserve London's role as a major global gold trading centre by making its management more open and independent, documents seen by Reuters showed.London currently dominates the global over-the-counter gold trade but is facing increasing competition from China. There are also more regulatory demands after scandals over attemps to rig interest rate and currency benchmarks.Several banks have run into trouble with regulators over misdemeanors in their precious metals trading business.  click here .

Jul 01 - SocGen raises 2016, 2017 gold price forecasts on post-Brexit worries 

Societe Generale on Thursday raised its gold price forecasts on fears over the ongoing political, financial and economic fallout of Britain's vote last week to leave the European Union.The French bank raised its 2016 gold price forecast to $1,280 per ounce from $1,200 per ounce previously, and its 2017 forecast to $1,300 per ounce from $1,050. click here .

Jul 01 - ArcelorMittal, Italy's CDP lead rival bids to buy Ilva steel plant 

ArcelorMittal and Italy's Marcegaglia have offered to acquire Italian steel plant Ilva, pitting themselves against a rival joint bid by Italy's state lender CDP, businessman Leonardo Del Vecchio's holding company and steelmaker Arvedi.The loss-making Ilva group, which Italy's government took over last year to save jobs and clean up polluted factories, said in a statement it had received the two offers.  click here .

Jul 01 - Saudi's Ma'aden says unit begins commercial production at copper mine 

An affiliate of Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden), the Gulf's largest miner, has started commercial production at the Jabal Sayid copper mine, Ma'aden said on Thursday.The mine is operated by Maaden Barrick Copper Co, which is jointly owned by Ma'aden and Canada's Barrick Gold Corp, according to a statement to Riyadh's bourse. click here .

Jun 30 - Alcoa spins off smelting business; aero, auto unit now 'Arconic' 

Metals company Alcoa Inc said on Wednesday it will spin off its traditional aluminum smelting business as part of its planned company split, with up to 19.9 percent of the new company owned by its business that serves aerospace and transportation industries.The company to be spun off will be named Alcoa Corp and the "value-added" business that makes engineered products for growth markets will be named Arconic Inc, Alcoa said in a regulatory filing. click here .

Jun 30 - China is running out of time to cure its steel problems: Andy Home 

China is frantically trying to apply the brakes to its runaway steel juggernaut.Targets are being set for capacity closures, 45 million tonnes nationally this year and 100-150 million tonnes over the next three to five years. click here.

Jun 30 - Iron ore seen boxed below $50 in H2 as glut persists 

After an unexpected rally in the first months of 2016, iron ore should fall back below $50 a tonne in the second half of the year as more of the bulk commodity hits an oversupplied market, a Reuters poll showed.But prices should still be up on the year, analysts say, thanks to an early-year rally in Chinese steel futures that spread to iron ore and helped the raw material recover from a three-year slide. click here.

Jun 30 - Rio Tinto cuts mining links with Papua New Guinea 

Rio Tinto Ltd will sever mining links with resource-rich Papua New Guinea, relinquishing ownership of the Panguna copper mine on Bougainville island which has been closed for around 25 years after a secessionist rebellion.The global miner said on Thursday that it would transfer its majority shareholding of 53.8 percent in Bougainville Copper Ltd to an independent trustee to manage the distribution of the shares to the Autonomous Bougainville Government and Papua New Guinea. click here.

Jun 30 - Brexit makes government fix to Tata steel pension plan elusive 

A government overhaul of the British Steel Pension Scheme - crucial to convincing anyone to buy Tata's British assets – is in jeopardy after Britons' vote to leave the European Union deepened the fund's debts and depleted its assets, analysts and industry sources said.Pension trustees said they were in talks to assess the impact of last week's decision, which sources said already raised the risk Tata Steel's giant Port Talbot plant would be closed, destroying thousands of jobs. click here.

Jun 30 - JPMorgan beats traders in silver futures rigging lawsuits 

JPMorgan Chase & Co on Wednesday won the dismissal of three private antitrust lawsuits, including from hedge fund manager Daniel Shak, accusing the largest U.S. bank of rigging a market for silver futures contracts traded on COMEX.The lawsuits accused JPMorgan of having in late 2010 and early 2011 placed artificial bids onto the trading floor, harangued employees at metals market COMEX to obtain prices it wanted, and made misrepresentations to a committee that set settlement prices. click here.

Jun 30 - Malaysia extends bauxite mining moratorium by two months to Sept 14

Malaysia announced on Thursday it was extending a moratorium on bauxite mining by two months to September 14, as existing stockpiles remain high.The federal government and Pahang state government said in a joint statement there was still an estimated 5.4 million tonnes of bauxite stockpiled around the Kuantan port yet to be cleared, despite an earlier extension to the moratorium. click here.

Jun 30 - Canada, U.S., Mexico want action on excess global steel capacity 

Canada, the United States and Mexico on Wednesday demanded that all major steel-producing nations make a strong and immediate commitment to address the problem of excess capacity in the industry.A joint statement called for an end to government subsidies and supports that artificially maintain capacity, but did not name any country. The United States has acted several times to counter what it says is dumping of some Chinese steel products. click here.

Jun 30 - AngloGold to invest over $400 million in Guinea gold production 

South Africa-based gold producer AngloGold Ashanti plans to boost gold output in Guinea by investing over $400 million in the next eight years, according to an agreement reached this week with the West African country.Guinea is a significant producer of bauxite and iron ore and is also seeking to expand its gold production. This latest deal with AngloGold extends another agreement that had been set to expire in 2019. click here.

Jun 30 - De Beers gets approval to flood suspended Arctic diamond mine 

De Beers Canada can flood the tunnels of its underground Snap Lake diamond mine in the Northwest Territories under a revised suspension plan approved by the region's land and water board. The company is weighing whether to sell, close, reopen, or continue suspension at the money-losing Arctic mine, which was shuttered last December due to poor market conditions. Waning Chinese demand and an industry credit crunch have been hurting the sector. click here.

Jun 29 - China aluminium makers boost output, risking new trade tensions 

After signs China was curbing aluminium output late last year, the world's biggest producer is gradually increasing output again, raising the risk of fresh tensions with global trading partners from any spike in exports.The production restarts and new capacity come as local prices and demand rise, and are earlier than some experts expected. Chinese production and exports of semi-finished products (semis) hit six-month highs in May, after decade-low prices had caused widespread curtailments in December. click here.

Jun 29 - LME electronic volumes surge in battle over traditional trading 

Electronic trade on the London Metal Exchange has climbed by nearly a fifth this year as the LME lures more speculators, sparking a battle with members who worry about threats to the traditional structure symbolised by the open outcry floor.The 139-year-old exchange, the only one in Europe still maintaining open outcry trading, has been seeking to placate members, especially brokers, worried about losing lucrative business. click here.

Jun 29 - Salzgitter lifts earnings forecast on rising steel prices 

German steelmaker Salzgitter lifted its 2016 earnings guidance on Tuesday, citing a stabilisation of Europe's steel market thanks to a "surprisingly steep decline" in cheap Chinese exports. Salzgitter said it now expects pretax profit of between 30 million euros and 60 million euros ($33 million to $66 million), having previously forecast a break-even result after last year's 13 million euros. click here . 

Jun 29 - Indian cabinet clears new mineral exploration policy - govt source 

India's cabinet on Wednesday cleared a new mineral exploration policy that will allow private companies to carry out stand-alone exploration for the first time, a government source said.India is keen to get private firms to start exploring for more minerals like diamonds and gold, where current mining is negligible, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition to make the country a major mineral producer.  click here .

Jun 28 - Retail gold buyers take profits in bullion after Brexit price surge 

Retail gold investors are booking profit on metal bought to hedge against Thursday's decision by British voters to leave the European Union, while an initial surge in buying slackened off on Monday.The chief executive of online platform BullionVault said on Monday that while buying had risen sharply in the last session, its users had overall been net sellers since the Brexit vote became apparent on Friday, liquidating a quarter of a tonne of gold. click here.

Jun 28 - A new threat to China's nickel pig iron producers? Andy Home 

What sort of threat does the election of a new government in the Philippines pose to China's nickel pig iron (NPI) sector?Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte has already fired several warning shots at the country's mining sector, calling on local operators to "shape up" and stop "the spoiling of the land". click here.

Jun 28 - U.S. SEC adopts rule on oil, mining payments to foreign governments 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday approved a rule requiring oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments, capping a process stalled in the courts for years. The rule requires companies to state publicly starting in 2018 how much they pay governments in taxes, royalties and other types of fees for exploration, extraction and other activities. click here.

Jun 28 - Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family long gold futures ahead of Brexit 

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office LLC was long gold futures ahead of last week's vote in Britain to leave the European Union, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.Gold soared on Friday in its best day since 2009, hitting two-year highs as uncertainty after Britain's vote to leave the European Union pushed investors to sell equities and seek safer assets. click here .

Jun 28 - Russia aims to tender Sukhoi Log gold deposit this year - minister 

Russia plans to tender Sukhoi Log gold deposit this year, which may happen at the end of summer-beginning of autumn, Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi told reporters on Monday.Sukhoi Log, one of the world's largest untapped gold deposits, has remained untapped for half a century and Russia has been considering selling rights to the deposit for almost 20 years. click here .

Jun 27 - How long Brexit uncertainty reigns is key for commodities, gold: Russell

Amid the horror for many, the elation for others and the shock for virtually everybody of the British vote to exit the European Union, perhaps the most measured and predictable response was from commodity markets. As it became clear on Friday that the Leave camp was going to pull off an unexpected victory, commodities did what they normally do in a period of heightened risk, they declined. click here.

Jun 27 - China aims to cut steel capacity by 45 mln tonnes in 2016 -state planner 

China plans to cut its steel production capacity this year by 45 million tonnes and lower coal output capacity by 280 million tonnes, the head of the country's top economic planner said on Sunday. The capacity cuts will involve relocating 700,000 workers in the coal sector, and 180,000 workers in the steel industry, Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the World Economic Forum in the northern city of Tianjin. Xu said he was very confident that China will achieve the 2016 targets.  click here .

Jun 27 - London gold dealers report surge in coin, bar demand on Brexit vote 

Gold dealers in London reported surging demand for coins and bars on Friday, with some saying stocks were tight, after a shock vote for Britain to leave the European Union sent financial markets into meltdown and drove the pound lower. Gold delivered double-digit percentage gains in sterling terms on Friday, topping 1,000 pounds an ounce for the first time in over three years, and soared as much as 8 percent in dollars. click here .

Jun 27 - China's Baosteel, Wuhan Steel announce plan to restructure

China's Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, two of the country's largest steelmakers, are together planning to restructure, their listed units said in separate stock exchange filings on Sunday. Baosteel Group is China's second-largest steelmaker, and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group is the country's fourth-largest. click here .

Jun 27 - BHP lifts exploration spending by nearly 30 pct, targets copper and oil

BHP Billiton said on Monday it plans to boost its exploration budget by 29 percent to around $900 million next year, as the global miner counts on new finds of oil and copper to drive growth in a tough market rather than mergers and acquisitions. The figure represents 18 percent of BHP's total capital budget of $5 billion over fiscal 2017 and comes amid efforts by big miners to maintain growth while tightening balance sheets. click here .

Jun 27 - Brexit decision piles pressure on Tata British steelworks 

Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant has moved a step closer to closure following Britain's decision to leave the European Union, but buyers remain interested, industry sources said on Friday. Liberty House, management buy-out vehicle Excalibur Steel Limited and up to five other entities entered bids for Tata Steel's British operations, which employ around 11,000 people.  click here .

Jun 27 - Anglo American advancing in wage talks at Chile copper mines

Global mining company Anglo American Plc said on Friday that it is progressing with wage negotiations at its flagship Los Bronces copper mine in Chile, and is looking to finalize talks with workers at other operations in the country. This year, Anglo American needs to negotiate contracts with seven unions in Chile amid low prices for the red metal. click here .

Jun 27 - Kuczynski wants Peru to become metals refining hub - finance minister 

President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wants China to help transform Peru into a metals refining hub to boost the Andean country's key mining exports as prices for them slump, the incoming finance minister said. Alfredo Thorne told Reuters that some Chinese companies have already signaled interest in partnering in developing new refineries, part of Kuczynski's plans to boost infrastructure investments to rev up sluggish economic growth. click here .

Jun 27 - Speculators lift bullish gold stance to record ahead of Brexit

Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts to record highs in the week to June 21, days ahead of the surprise "Brexit" vote by Britain to leave the European Union, U.S. government data showed on Friday. The speculators lowered their net short position in copper futures and options, taking it off the prior week's record, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.  click here .

Jun 24 - Britain votes to leave EU, unleashing global turmoil 

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, results from Thursday's landmark referendum showed, a stunning repudiation of the nation's elites that deals the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two.World financial markets plunged as nearly complete results showed a 51.8/48.2 percent split for leaving. The vote instantly creates the biggest global financial shock since the 2008 economic crisis, this time with interest rates around the world already at or near zero, stripping policymakers of the means to fight it.  click here.

Jun 24 - POSCO CEO says steel "protectionism" by US, others to hurt exports -media 

Chief executive of POSCO, South Korea's top steelmaker, said "protectionism" by the United States and other countries could have an adverse impact on the company's exports, media reports showed on Friday.The comments came after the United States slapped a series of anti-dumping duties on major steel-producing countries like China and South Korea. China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday it was deeply concerned about protectionism in the U.S. steel sector and urged the United States to strictly abide by World Trade Organization rule.  click here .

Jun 24 - India's Tata says skilled labour important consideration after Brexit

India's $100 billion Tata group said in a statement on Friday that access to markets and a skilled workforce would remain important considerations for its businesses in Britain, which on Friday decided to leave the 28-nation European Union bloc. Tata has 19 independent companies in the U.K., a Tata Sons spokesman said in the statement, including luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, Tetley Tea and steel plants.  click here.

Jun 24 - Lenders turn away BHP port debt plan, wary of coal 

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton pulled a $500 million debt refinancing plan at one of Australia's biggest coal export terminals after banks were reluctant to lend to the sector, said three sources with knowledge of the process.The decision earlier this month sets back efforts to simplify complex debt arrangements at the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) project and stalls BHP's plan to release cash tied up in the terminal as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet amid a global commodities slump.  click here .

Jun 24 - New Philippine minister says open-pit mining is "madness" 

The incoming minister in charge of Philippine mining has slammed the use of open pits to extract minerals, describing it as "madness" even to consider the method in the resource-rich country because of the environmental impact.The stance by Regina Lopez, an environmentalist who on Tuesday accepted President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's offer to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, could set her on a collision course with the mining industry.  click here .

Jun 24 - Chile's Codelco to decide on partner for lithium development in 2017 

The world's No. 1 copper producer Codelco is expected to make its decision on who to partner with to develop its lithium assets in the first quarter of next year, Chile's Mining Minister Aurora Williams told Reuters on Thursday.Lithium is an important ingredient in rechargeable batteries and is used in electric cars. Annual demand for lithium is forecast to more than double by 2020 from 95,000 tonnes now. click here .

Jun 24 - China impounds assets of troubled metal exchange after arrests 

Chinese police have impounded over 70,000 tonnes of non-ferrous metals and other assets of the Fanya Metals Exchange, the local government said, after arresting the company head and others following accusations it was running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.After months of protests, dozens of investigators took over the Kunming-based Fanya exchange building late in 2015, and earlier this year police arrested the head of the exchange, Shan Jiuliang, along with 15 other suspects.  click here .

Jun 24 - Gold rocketed this morning as the shock UK referendum result saw carnage in financial market prompting a rush to safe haven assets like gold. With sterling falling to its lowest in 30 years, the biggest gains were seen in gold for UK investors which rose 20% in just a few minutes before settling this morning at gbp 960, a gain of 12% on the day so far.
- At Sharps Pixley we have seen our busiest day ever with online sales draining our stocks of our larger bullion bars and prompting us to call on emergency reserves of kilobars from Germany. Our stocks of many coins have also been bought out with only limited availability today.
- Speaking of the gold rush Ross Norman, CEO at Sharps Pixley said "gold has done what it does best and that is to provide investors with protection against currency weakness and political uncertainty- it is a safe haven asset with wealth preservation properties - the prescient investor has been well rewarded by his caution".   

Jun 23 - Gold investors wrestle with Brexit vote in wild options dealings 

Gold investors piled on near-term bullish and bearish options bets on Wednesday, racing to protect against whipsawing prices as Britons head to the polls to decide on the future of their European Union membership on Thursday, data showed.Implied volatility, a measure of options activity, in Comex July gold calls and puts with strike prices that are as much as $50 higher or lower than current prices soared to record highs on Wednesday. click here .

Jun 23 - Southeast Asia steelmakers bid to emerge from China's shadow 

As a construction boom spurs steel demand across Southeast Asia, countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand are challenging a flood of imports from China by retooling their steelmaking technology or imposing tariffs.U.S. and European steelmakers are leading complaints over alleged dumping, but cheap Chinese imports account for two thirds of steel consumed in many Southeast Asian countries. The region includes six of the top 10 buyers of Chinese steel, and capacity utilisation in its own mills has slumped to less than 40 percent. click here.

Jun 23 - Rio Tinto's cleared the decks, now time to change iron ore tack: Russell 

The beautiful thing about cleaning out the executive ranks is that it gives a company an opportunity to press the reset button on strategies and positions.Rio Tinto should seize the moment and come up with a forecast for Chinese steel output that is more realistic.click here.

Jun 23 - China concerned about protectionism in U.S. steel sector -Commerce Ministry 

China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday it was deeply concerned about protectionism in the U.S. steel sector and urged the United States to strictly abide by World Trade Organization rules."The U.S. steel sector has been in a state of overprotection," the ministry said in a statement on its website, adding that this overprotection has made the U.S. sector uncompetitive. click here.

Jun 23 - Copper export surge, a sign of China weakness or London strength? Andy Home 

China exported 85,000 tonnes of refined copper in May. It was the second highest monthly outflow on record, eclipsed only by the 102,000 tonnes that left the country in May 2012.The copper market, which is more accustomed to tracking what goes into China, the world's largest single consumer of the stuff, is now fretting that more, maybe much more, may be on its way. click here .

Jun 23 - Emirates Global Aluminium to press ahead with Guinea bauxite mine 

State-owned Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has concluded its feasibility study on development of its Guinea bauxite mine and will press ahead with construction, the company said on Wednesday. The mine, which is slated to begin operating in 2018, will help to secure supply of the aluminium ore for EGA's primary production facilities in the United Arab Emirates, with some of the bauxite to be exported to Asia, a company statement said.click here .

Jun 23 - Australia's Telstra buys into mining technology sector 

Australia's No. 1 telecommunications firm Telstra Corp Ltd  has bought a mining technology company for an undisclosed sum, looking to tap the resource sector's appetite for cost-cutting in the face of slumping commodity prices.Markets for everything from oil to iron ore have collapsed from record highs a few years ago due to swelling supply and a slowing economy in major consumer China, prompting mining companies to adopt new technologies which automate processes and boost production. click here .

Jun 22 - Gold rush to end whether or not Britain votes to exit EU 

Gold's sharp gains on uncertainty over Britain's European Union membership are likely to come to an end, regardless of whether Britons vote to leave or remain in Thursday's referendum.Prices hit their highest since August 2014 last week as the $5-trillion a year gold market rose with other "safe" assets, such as German bunds, the Swiss franc and Japan's yen. click here .

Jun 22 - Global palladium demand in autos to hit record in 2016 - CPM 

Global demand for palladium in automobiles will rise nearly 3 percent to a record in 2016 on growing Chinese demand for small cars and as lower oil prices have spurred U.S. sales of light trucks, CPM Group said on Tuesday.But demand for platinum in automobiles will be flat, the market research firm said in a report. click here.

Jun 22 - Singapore trader Kyen Resources buys Gunvor's metals book - sources 

Singapore-based metals trader Kyen Resources has bought the metals trading book of Switzerland's Gunvor, three sources with direct knowledge of the deal said, the latest small trader to expand even as the climate for trading metals gets tougher.Kyen Resources, set up around two years ago, this week finalised the purchase of Gunvor's metals business - mostly term copper and zinc shipments - to add to its existing business that also includes aluminium, one of the sources said. click here.

Jun 22 - Baosteel shuts blast furnace in drive to cut China's overcapacity 

China's Baosteel Group, the country's second largest steelmaker by output, has shut a blast furnace as part of a national restructuring effort to reduce overcapacity in the sector, the company said.China, the world's biggest producer and consumer of steel, is prioritising supply-side reform in both steel and coal due to sagging prices to help overhaul its industrial sector. click here.

Jun 22 - China export curb pushes antimony to 11-month highs 

Antimony prices have hit their highest in more than 11 months due to a tighter market created by top producer China limiting exports of the metal used in fire-retardants and plastics, traders in Europe said. Prices of antimony  on the spot market in Europe have risen about 24 percent to $6,500 a tonne from $5,250 in March. They are at their highest since July 2015. click here.

Jun 22 - Liberty lines up banks, private funds for Tata Steel UK bid 

Liberty House Group has lined up financing from banks in the United Kingdom and India as well as several private investment firms to support its bid to acquire the British assets of Tata Steel, Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta told Reuters. The firm is one of a number of companies that have put forward offers to buy Tata Steel's loss-making UK operations and save thousands of jobs in Britain, whose steel industry has been hit by cheap Chinese imports, high energy costs and a global supply glut.click here.

Jun 21 - In aluminium market it's still China versus rest of world: Andy Home  

"China has committed to ensure that its central government policies and support do not target the net expansion of steel capacity; and to actively and appropriately wind down 'zombie enterprises' through a range of efforts, including restructuring and bankruptcy."This statement was made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew earlier this month after high-level talks with Chinese officials in Beijing. click here .

Jun 21 - Rio Tinto replaces iron ore chief, shuffles executive team 

Global miner Rio Tinto Plc said it appointed Chris Salisbury as head of its iron ore business, replacing veteran Andrew Harding.Salisbury, currently acting head of Rio Tinto's copper and coal unit, will take up the role on July 2.Rio Tinto also appointed Arnaud Soirat as head of its new copper and diamonds unit, Stephen McIntosh as growth and innovation executive, and Joanne Farrell as group executive, health, safety and environment. click here.

Jun 21 - India wants private sector to explore for diamonds, gold 

India is seeking the participation of Rio Tinto and Anglo American's De Beers to explore for diamonds and gold, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition to make the country a major mineral producer, the mines secretary said.Balvinder Kumar told Reuters on Monday that the Indian government will start to auction the rights to up to 70 diamond and gold exploration zones to mining companies this year. click here .

Jun 21 - Brazil's Samarco, owners hire banks for debt talks - source 

Brazilian mining company Samarco Mineração SA and owners Vale SA and BHP Billiton Plc have hired banks to sound out creditors on a potential renegotiation of $3.8 billion in debt, after a deadly dam spill led to the shutdown of a key mine, a source with direct knowledge of the plan said on Monday.According to the source, BHP Billiton has hired Rothschild & Co as an advisor on the deal, Vale has brought in Moelis & Co, and JPMorgan Chase & Co is advising Samarco. The source asked for anonymity because the process is private. click here .

Jun 20 - Rio suspends work at Channar iron ore mine after death 

Rio Tinto has suspended operations at its Channar iron ore mine in Australia after a worker was killed overnight, the company said on Monday."Operations have been suspended," a Rio Tinto spokesman said, adding that the company was working with investigators on the cause of the incident. He did not say when operations would resume.  click here .

Jun 20 - Options market maps zinc bulls' upside ambitions: Andy Home 

Zinc continues to shine amid the general gloom pervading the base metals complex.On the London Metal Exchange (LME) benchmark three-month zinc has eased back from the near one-year high of $2,105.50 per tonne hit earlier this month. click here .

Jun 20 - China orders energy use checks to speed closure of coal, steel capacities - NDRC 

China has ordered local authorities nationwide to check on energy use by coal and steel companies to speed up the closure of plants and mines that fail to reach certain efficiency standards, the country's economic watchdog said on Monday.Local governments need to conduct energy consumption checks on coal and steel producers, and any that do not meet efficiency standards will be given a maximum of nine months in which to improve or be closed, according to two statements on the website of the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC). click here .

Jun 20 - ArcelorMittal plans divestment of French businesses 

World number-one steelmaker ArcelorMittal is looking for a partner for one French subsidiary and is in discussions to sell another unit that operates largely in France, the company said on Friday.ArcelorMittal said it was in talks with potential joint venture partners for SoluStil, which makes sheet steel for the aerospace, rail, agriculture and construction sectors and has 660 employees. click here .

Jun 20 - Australia gov't pledges A$49 mln for Whyalla steel firm as election nears 

The Turnbull government offered A$49.2 million ($36.4 million)in assistance on Sunday to a struggling steel firm in the South Australian town of Whyalla if it is reelected next month, as major parties worry about losing seats in a region hit hard by the end of the mining boom.The funds, which would be in the form of a loan, would allow troubled Arrium Mining and Materials to buy equipment to upgrade lower quality iron ore for use in the steelmaking process. click here .

Jun 20 - Brazil fines Samarco 142 mln reais for damages to protected areas 

Brazil's Environment Ministry fined mining company Samarco 142 million reais ($41.6 million) for damages to three protected areas resulting from a tailings dam burst in November, the ministry said on Friday.The ministry said in a statement the three areas on the coast of Espirito Santo state were contaminated by metals such as lead, coper and cadmium. The metals spilled from the dam and were carried all the way from Minas Gerais through the Doce River to the ocean. click here .

Jun 20 - Speculators at record bearish copper stance, gold at 2011 peak 

Hedge funds and money managers raised their net short position in COMEX copper contracts to the biggest on record, and took their bullish stance in gold to the highest in nearly five years in the week to June 14, U.S. government data showed on Friday.The speculators also added to their net long position in silver, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed. click here .

Jun 20 - Russian gold miner Polyus plans 5 pct stake sale in Moscow

Russia's largest gold producer Polyus plans to sell 5 percent of its existing shares on the Moscow bourse when market conditions are right, Chief Executive Pavel Grachev told Reuters on Friday.Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, needs to raise its free float to at least 10 percent from 5 percent to meet Moscow Stock Exchange requirements after an upgrade of its listing, which Grachev has said would enable it to increase liquidity and attract new investors. click here .

Jun 20 - Guinea's CBG gets $1 bln loan to boost bauxite production 

Guinea's Bauxite Company (CBG) has reached an agreement in principle over a $1 billion loan to increase production capacity at the Kamsar treatment plant, the firm's general director told Reuters on Friday.Guinea has around a third of the world's reserves of bauxite, used to make aluminium, although development has been hampered by years of military rule and popular unrest. click here .

Jun 20 - Canada's Kinross suspends work at Mauritania gold mine 

Canada's Kinross Gold Corp has suspended activity at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania after the West African country ordered expatriates whose work permits were invalid to stop working, a company source said.The company "has decided to temporarily shut down the mine following the withdrawal of invalid work permit of expatriates by labor inspection", the source told Reuters late on Saturday click here .

Jun 17 - Vale will not support Samarco if unable to resume operations 

Brazilian mining company Vale SA will not financially support Samarco, a joint venture with BHP Billiton, if the company is not able to resume operations, Vale's head of investor relations said on Thursday.Rogerio Nogueira told analysts at an event in Sao Paulo that he did not believe Samarco would need financial support, but that in the event its mine was unable to get permission to restart, Vale would not fund Samarco. The joint venture's iron ore mine closed in November after a deadly dam spill.  click here .

Jun 17 - Copper faces tough outlook on rise in Asia stockpiles, mined metal
Copper stocks held in London Metal Exchange warehouses in Asia are set jump by around 50 percent in the next month, as the metal is shifted out or diverted away from top consumer China, industry sources said.The rise in warehouse stocks is likely to depress prices in the near term, while the outlook further out is also weak due to fresh mine supply, said attendees at the LME Week Asia conference in Hong Kong. click here .

Jun 17 - Glencore plans to sell option in Falco's Horne gold project -sources 

Glencore is planning to sell its option in a gold mine owned by Falco Resources, two sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday, as the mining group and commodities trader presses ahead with asset sales.London-listed Glencore has appointed BofA Merrill Lynch to sell the 65 percent option in the Horne 5 gold project in Quebec, the sources said, and potential buyers have been contacted. click here .

Jun 17 - Producers expect Ukraine July steel output of 2.2 million tonnes 

Ukrainian steel production in July is likely to stay at a high level of about 2.2 million tonnes, steelmakers said on Friday.Steel output rose 14 percent in the first five months of 2016 to 10.6 million tonnes, mostly thanks to an increase in demand from the local market and exporters.  click here.

Jun 17 - ArcelorMittal plans to sell two French units - report 

World number-one steelmaker ArcelorMittal is preparing to shed about 10 percent of its 17,200 strong workforce in France through the sale of two subsidiaries, according to a report in Le Figaro newspaper. The report said the two units for sale are Solustil, which makes steel for car bodies, and WireSolutions, which makes fencing wire and nails.  click here .

Jun 17 - Brazil judge bars steelmaker CSN's appointees from Usiminas board 

An appeals judge in Brazil has overturned a ruling by the country's antitrust authority that allowed steelmaker CSN to make appointments to the board of rival Usiminas, in which it has a stake.The ruling by Judge Jirair Aram Meguerian on Wednesday could mean CSN's two appointees will have to step down from the Usiminas board, which grew to 11 members after the regulator, known as Cade, cleared the way for the move in April. click here .

Jun 17 - U.S. SEC proposes mining rules to sync with global standards 

The top U.S. securities regulator on Thursday proposed new requirements for what companies must disclose about their mining properties, saying the industry had undergone significant changes in recent years and become more globalized.The proposal would align with "global standards and give investors more comprehensive information," said Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White in a statement. click here.

Jun 16 - Gold play distorts Thai run of better export data 

A run of strong Thai exports this year should be welcome news for the trade-dependent economy, but rather than reflecting healthy shipments of goods such as cars or textiles speculative gold sales have often had an outsized influence.In February alone, a 1,000 percent surge in gold exports to a record $1.89 billion contributed to the largest annual rise in overall exports for more than three years at 10.3 percent. Stripping out gold, year-on-year growth was just 0.3 percent. click here.

Jun 16 - Brazil's Usiminas draws bank refinancing deal respite; shares jump 

Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA agreed with banks and local bondholders to refinance about 5.4 billion reais ($1.6 billion) in loans and local notes, boosting efforts by Brazil's largest listed flat steelmaker to overcome a deep crisis.In a Wednesday securities filing, Belo Horizonte-based Usiminas said banks agreed to extend maturities over the next 10 years with a three-year grace period on the principal. A spokesman for the company declined to detail additional terms of the new arrangement, saying the accord is under banking secrecy. click here.

Jun 16 - Aluminium premiums adjust to life after the queues

Japanese aluminium buyers are locked in talks with producers over the level of physical premiums to be paid for shipments in the third quarter.The opening salvoes suggest the premium will fall slightly from the second-quarter level of $115-117 per tonne over London Metal Exchange (LME) cash prices. click here.

Jun 16 - Vale-BHP's Samarco no longer sees operations resuming this year 

Brazilian miner Samarco, a joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Billiton, no longer expects to resume mining operations this year, Benedito Waldson, the company's head of human resources told Reuters on Wednesday.The lack of clarity of when the company would receive the necessary licenses to restart operations had forced the company to move to lay off over 1,000 workers, Waldson said. The Samarco iron ore mine was closed last November after a deadly tailings dam spill. click here.

Jun 16 - European Union reaches outline deal to stem flow of conflict minerals 

The European Union on Wednesday agreed an outline deal on a law to clean up the commodities supply chain, so importers will have to carry out checks to stem the use of gold and other metals from conflict zones, European politicians said.Human rights campaigners said the agreement was progress after months of argument, although it did not go far enough. Industrial users of the relevant commodities said the compromise struck the right balance.  click here.

Jun 16 - Westpac commodity finance division expects revenue growth this year 

The structured commodity finance division of Australia's Westpac bank expects revenues to grow by a third this financial year as new products gain momentum, but business is likely to level out next year as the global economy falters.Westpac Banking Corp set up its Hong Kong and Singapore-based commodity financing business in 2013-2014 to tap trade flow from its home market to China and to capture demand from Asia's urbanisation drive, just as many global banks, stung by increasing regulatory costs, quit the sector. click here.

Jun 16 - South Africa's Northam says lost 15 mln rand a day in work stoppage 

South Africa's Northam Platinum lost 15 million rand ($983,026) a day in revenue during a week-long work stoppage at Zondereinde mine, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.Memory Johnstone said about 7,000 ounces of output were lost at the mine which produces about 300,000 ounces of platinum a year and accounts for 70 percent of the mid-tier producer's revenue. click here.

Jun 16 - Polymetal says Sberbank to finance Kazakh gold project 

Russia's Polymetal plans to borrow $350 million from Sberbank to finance the development of its Kazakh gold field Kyzyl, chief executive Vitaly Nesis told reporters in Astana on Wednesday."We have reached an agreement in principle with Sberbank on project finance for about $350 million, this is long money, about six years," Nesis said. click here.

Jun 16 - Japan aluminium stocks rise for first time in 9 months 

Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports climbed for the first time in nine months in May due to an increase in imports and softer demand at home. The increase comes as global aluminium producers and Japanese buyers negotiate premiums for July-September primary metal shipments. click here.

Jun 16 - China to strictly control new metals capacity, boost state reserves -cabinet 

China will strictly control new production capacity in the non-ferrous metals sector and boost the stockpiling of state reserves as parts of an effort to push forward structural supply-side reform, the cabinet said on Thursday. The government will increase financial incentives to metals companies that produce higher-end products and upgrade technology, and will urge industry bodies to improve the stockpiling of metals reserves, the cabinet said in a document dated on June 5 and published on its website. click here.

Jun 15 - China won't come to the LME, so the LME will go to China: Russell 

Some four years after shelling out a top-of-the-market $2.2 billion for the London Metal Exchange (LME), it appears owners Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) are still battling to make the venerable old Western institution work with China, the new and dominant centre for metal demand. HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li used the LME Week Asia seminar today to tout the latest plan, which involves bringing the LME's expertise in physical metals markets to China, where financial instruments dominate trade. click here .

Jun 15 - Hong Kong bourse pushes on with China metals trading hub

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is pushing ahead with plans to start a metals trading platform in southern China, looking to build its commodity business in the world's No.2 economy. Qianhai, a new free trade zone near Hong Kong, is set to host the platform for trading metals before stretching into other commodities, pending regulatory approval. click here .

Jun 15 - Kyrgyz president orders legal review of Centerra Gold deals 

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ordered state prosecutors on Tuesday to review the legality of agreements signed with Canada's Centerra Gold Inc in 2003-2004 and 2009, his office said in a statement. Centerra operates Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold mine, Kumtor, and has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Central Asian nation's government over profit-sharing that has recently escalated. click here.

Jun 15 - Colombia's Cerro Matoso nickel mine workers cancel strike after pay deal 

Union workers at Colombia's Cerro Matoso nickel mine ditched plans to strike on Tuesday after reaching a deal on pay increases and benefits, the company and union said, averting potential disruption to output from one of the world's largest producers of ferronickel. Workers voted late last month to strike beginning Tuesday, but reached an eleventh-hour deal with mine owners South32 Ltd, officials confirmed. click here.

Jun 15 - Russia's Norilsk aims for debt ratio of up to 2 by end-2016 

Russian miner Norilsk Nickel aims to keep its net debt to core earnings ratio at up to 2.0 by the end of 2016, compared to 1.0 a year earlier, the company's chief financial officer said. "We hope that we will stay safe regarding our debt burden level, up to 2 by the end of the year," CFO Sergei Malyshev told reporters. click here.

Jun 15 - South Africa's NUM union members to resume work at Northam Platinum mine 

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its members will return to work for the nightshift on Tuesday at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde after staying away since Monday last week after violence broke out at the site. Northam suspended operations at the mine on June 6 after a worker was fatally stabbed when members of NUM clashed with those of the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). click here.

Jun 15 - Metals company CEO pleads guilty in New York over Iran exports 

A New York City man who runs a metallurgy company pleaded guilty on Tuesday to having conspired to illegally export missile-grade metallic powder to Iran, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, admitted to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act at a hearing before Chief Judge Dora Irizarry of the U.S. district court in Brooklyn. click here .

Jun 14 - LME chief says possible link between higher fees, lower volumes 

The head of the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday said the bourse's falling trade volumes could be linked to a fee-hike introduced early last year, but added that the main reason for the decline was a downturn in the global economy.  Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd bought the LME for $2.2 billion four years ago, before raising trading fees by an average 31 percent in early 2015 as it aimed to wring profit from its investment. click here. 

Jun 14 - Hong Kong bourse confirms working on China metals trading hub 

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing on Tuesday confirmed it was pushing ahead with plans to start a metals trading platform in southern China, looking to build its commodity business in the world's No.2 economy. Qianhai, a new free trade zone near Hong Kong, is set to host the platform for trading metals before stretching into other commodities, pending regulatory approval. click here 

Jun 14 - Cuba sees nickel output steady at 56,000 tonnes; low prices bite 

Cuba is trying to reduce costs in the nickel industry to offset losses from low global prices, rather than raising output from 56,000 tonnes annually, industry executives said on a rare tour of one of the communist-led island's plants. The head of state monopoly Cubaniquel and plant managers said that despite the slump they were looking to foreign investment to increase capacity in the future. click here. 

Jun 14 - Brazil judge dismisses $5.7 bln civil suit against Samarco -Vale 

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said on Monday that a 20 billion reais ($5.7 billion) civil lawsuit seeking environmental and property damages for last year's deadly Samarco mine disaster has been dismissed. The mine is operated by Samarco Mineração SA, a joint venture between Vale and the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton Ltd. Vale said the judge did not rule on the merits of the case. click here.

Jun 14 - South African miner RBPlat hands NUM exclusive union rights 

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has secured exclusive union rights for workers at platinum producer Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat), it said on Monday. The NUM represents 80 percent of RBPlat's workforce of around 7,000 and said workers at the company's four mines voted overwhelmingly last week in favour of the agreement. click here.

Jun 14 - Glencore says coal an investment opportunity despite CO2 worry 

Coal is an investment opportunity as global demand will grow and a halt in spending would halve seaborne supplies in 15 years' time, Glencore said on Monday, adding its own coal operations would be depleted by 2035 without new funds. The Paris Agreement on climate change agreed in December triggered selling in companies heavily exposed to coal, the most carbon-intensive of the fossil fuels. click here.

Jun 14 - Australian magnate Palmer sues Queensland Nickel administrator 

Australian magnate Clive Palmer on Tuesday sued the administrators of his nickel business for holding on to assets that he says belonged to the Queensland Nickel operation when he took back management control of it in March. The Queensland Nickel operation went into voluntary administration in January and let go of all its workers following a collapse in nickel prices. Palmer took back control in March with the aim of restarting operations later this year. click here.

Jun 13 - Breaking the back of the London copper market: Andy Home

It's been a tough week for copper bulls. The price of benchmark three-month delivery copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has slumped almost $250 to a current $4,498 per tonne, the lowest level since February. Copper is now challenging out-of-favour lead as the worst performing base metal so far this year.  click here .

Jun 13 - Lawsuit alleges Glencore warehouse firm falsified zinc documents 

Executives at a metals warehouse firm owned by commodities group Glencore allegedly ordered workers to falsify documents in New Orleans to manipulate the zinc market, according to a complaint filed by zinc purchasers in a U.S. Federal Court. On Monday, a U.S. judge in Manhattan allowed a private antitrust lawsuit to go forward against two units of Anglo-Swiss Glencore Plc.  click here .

Jun 13 - China's crude steel output rises 1.8 pct in May on yr -stats bureau 

China's crude steel output rose 1.8 percent to 70.5 million tonnes in May from a year ago, the second time to stand above 70 million tonnes this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday. The average daily crude steel output in the world's top producer eased 1.7 percent to 2.27 million tonnes in May from a month ago, according to Reuters' calculation based on the data. click here.

Jun 13 - Liberty eyes other acquisitions if bid for Tata Steel UK fails 

Liberty House Group, which wants to buy the British assets of Tata Steel, has its eye on other steel plants in the United States, Africa and India if the Tata deal doesn't happen, Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta told Reuters. Liberty and other companies belonging to the Gupta Family Group (GFG) are looking for acquisitions and GFG plans to list part of its assets to expose itself to the rigorous governance demanded of public companies, Gupta, who is co-owner of the group, said on Friday.click here .

Jun 13 - Commodities broker Marex targets growth away from LME after fee hikes 

Commodities broker Marex Spectron is expanding its metals business into new regions and products beyond the London Metal Exchange after fee hikes led its customers to look for cheaper avenues for trading. London-based Marex has hired new staff to reach into Japan and to add an industrial metals base in Singapore, its global head of metals told Reuters in an interview late last week.  click here .

Jun 13 - Baosteel cuts main steel product prices for July delivery

China's biggest listed steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel), has cut its main steel product prices for July delivery, the company said in a statement on Monday. Prices for hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil were lowered by 200 yuan ($30.37) and 180 yuan per tonne, respectively, according to the statement. click here.

Jun 13 - Speculators lift bearish COMEX copper stance to 3-year high

Hedge funds and money managers raised their net short position in COMEX copper contracts to the biggest in more than three years in the week to June 7, as top consumer China saw weak demand growth, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. The speculators increased their net long position in gold futures and options to a three-week high while they cut their net long position in silver for the fourth straight week, the data showed. click here

Jun 13 - Vale's Mozambique unit says trains attacked by gunmen 

The Mozambique unit of Brazilian mining company Vale said on Friday that its trains had targeted by gunfire twice in recent days on the Sena rail line which carries coal from the interior to the Indian Ocean port of Beira. "Vale has been working with the relevant authorities to ensure that logistic activities on the Sena railway line can safely continue," the company said in a statement. click here.

Jun 13 - Sable Mining CEO says Liberia indictment 'politically motivated' 

Sable Mining Chief Executive Officer Andrew Groves said on Friday that his indictment this week by a grand jury in Liberia in relation to a corruption investigation was politically motivated. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf last month ordered an inquiry into London AIM-listed Sable's unsuccessful attempt to acquire an iron ore concession in northern Liberia after the watchdog group Global Witness made accusations of wrong-doing. click here

Jun 10 - Brazil police say Samarco ignored risk of dam collapse 

Brazil's federal police accused on Thursday mining company Samarco, a joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Billiton, of willful misconduct in relation to a deadly dam burst last November, saying the company had ignored clear signs the dam was at risk of collapsing.Police said Samarco had skimmed on safety spending, focusing instead on increasing production despite obvious indications, such as cracks, that the dam was in danger of a breach.  click here.

Jun 10 - India's steel ministry to seek extension of floor price on imports 

India's steel ministry will seek to extend a floor price on steel imports beyond August, a senior steel ministry source said, as the country looks to keep up its protectionist barriers to stem the tide of cheap foreign products.New Delhi imposed the minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products in February, helping cut inbound shipments last month to their lowest level in at least 14 months. The MIP expires in August. click here .

Jun 10 - Lundin mulls interest from multiple parties on Tenke copper mine 

Lundin Mining Corp is weighing interest from "multiple parties" for its stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chief Executive Paul Conibear said on Thursday.In June, Tenke mine operator Freeport-McMorRan Inc  agreed to sell its majority stake to China Molybdenum for $2.65 billion to help cut its debt.  click here.

Jun 10 - Usiminas CEO says no talks over breaking up company 

Controlling shareholders are not in negotiations about breaking up Brazil's Usiminas, the chief executive of the troubled steelmaker said on Thursday, in the midst of an ongoing boardroom battle for control.CEO Sergio Leite, speaking on the sidelines of a steel event in Sao Paulo, ruled out filing for bankruptcy protection and said the company was up to date with debt payments. He said a 1 billion reais ($296 million) capital increase should be completed within a month.  click here .

Jun 10 - South Australia offers funding for new owner of Arrium steel plant 

The South Australian government said on Thursday it would provide A$50 million ($37 million) in funding to help keep Arrium Ltd's loss-making Whyalla steelworks open under a new owner.State Labor premier Jay Weatherill has also pressed Australia's two major parties to commit to contribute A$100 million from the federal government to help keep Whyalla open. click here .

Jun 10 - Brazil's Gerdau says not been notified of U.S. investors lawsuit 

Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau SA said in a securities filing on Thursday it has not yet been notified of investors' lawsuits filed in the United States.New York law firm Pomerantz LLP filed a class-action suit against Gerdau on May 26, alleging the company issued materially misleading business information to investors over tax liabilities, based on Brazilian corruption investigations.  click here .

Jun 10 - Northam Platinum walkout to resume until worker safety assured, says NUM 

Members of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will not return to work at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde mine until they receives assurances over security from police and the company, an NUM spokesman said on Thursday.The police and company are to report to the union on Tuesday, when its members will decide whether or not they will return or continue the stay away, the union said. click here.

Jun 10 - Thyssenkrupp says plans job cuts at industrial unit 

German steel-to-elevators group Thyssenkrupp plans to cut jobs at its Industrial Solutions unit, a spokesman said on Thursday, declining to say how many.The spokesman said the cause was a difficult market environment in large plant construction as well as a poor competitive position, and the cuts would affect its Process Technologies unit, which employs about 2,300 people in Germany.  click here .

Jun 10 - Liberia indicts Sable Mining chief executive over alleged bribery scandal

A grand jury in Liberia indicted on Thursday the chief executive officer of the London AIM-listed Sable Mining, Andrew Groves, in connection with an alleged bribery scandal involving several senior Liberian officials, the head of a special task force said.President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered in May an inquiry into Sable's attempt to acquire an iron ore concession in northern Liberia after the watchdog group Global Witness made accusations of wrong-doing in a report. click here .

Jun 09 - Freeport says buyers eager for a stake in its assets

U.S. miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc will consider a "broad spectrum" of asset sales and has attracted interest from parties wanting to buy a stake in a grouping of its assets, Chief Financial Officer Kathleen Quirk said on Wednesday. "We have not ruled anything out," Quirk said at the Deutsche Industrials and Materials summit. click here.

Jun 09 - London appetite for gold bars, coins rises on Brexit nerves 

At Sharps Pixley, a gold showroom in London's smart Mayfair district, demand for bullion bars and coins is rising, with men and women of all ages buying up the safe-haven metal in case of a British exit from the European Union. Shoppers can walk out of the sleek St James's Street showroom carrying their gold investments, or leave them in the rows of safety deposit boxes that line the walls.  click here.

Jun 09 - After five lean years, gold miners gear up for growth

For the first time in five years, Barrick Gold and other bullion miners are getting ready to expand, breaking from their monologue on cutting costs and debt because of tumbling gold prices. Backed by healthier balance sheets, a 17 percent rise in the price of gold since January to $1,244 an ounce and new investors, miners from Canada to Australia and South Africa are studying ways to raise production. click here .

Jun 09 - BHP sets sights on a new iron mine to replace ageing one 

BHP Billiton is studying an option to develop a massive new iron ore deposit in Australia to replace lost tonnes as operations age and reserves decline, according to the company and documents filed with environmental regulators. The deposit is called South Flank and lies 10 km (6.2 miles) south of BHP's existing Mining Area C operation and would create an expanse 26 km long and 2 km wide. click here.

Jun 09 - Electric vehicles to power cobalt revival 

Cobalt prices may be on the threshold of a major revival due to flourishing demand for the mineral, a key component of lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. Prices for cobalt metal are expected to rise 45 percent to above $16 a lb by 2020 from $11 now as stricter emissions controls boost demand for electric vehicles and push the market into deficit from this year, analysts said. click here .

Jun 09 - Pharaohs' shadow an omen in Egypt gold search 

Careering around Egypt's rocky Eastern Desert, Alexander Nubia CEO Mark Campbell peers from his jeep and sees hills so rich with gold they could lure billions in investments and jumpstart the ailing economy. His company just has to find it. Egypt's gold mining industry has for years been long on potential and short on investment -- the result of a jarring mismatch between spectacular geology and an unattractive commercial framework for mining. click here .

Jun 09 - Japan may seek WTO help to resolve India steel tariff dispute 

Japan said it may ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help resolve a dispute related to India’s "safeguard" tariffs on the import of hot-rolled steel. India has extended its safeguard import taxes on some steel products until March 2018, in a bid to stop cheap overseas purchases from flooding its market and bolster the domestic steel sector.  click here .

Jun 09 - S.Africa's NUM union members refuse to resume work at Northam until demands met 

Workers belonging to the major union at South Africa's Northam Platinum said on Wednesday they would not resume work at its Zondereinde mine until arrests were made for a spate of murders. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) also resolved at a mass meeting that Northam should stop holding talks with the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) which has a minority representation at the mine. click here .

Jun 09 - Congo state miner plans to cut workforce, will invest $717 mln

Democratic Republic of Congo state miner Gecamines, whose debt stands at $1.6 billion, plans to cut its 12,000 strong workforce by more than 2,000 in the coming months, its chairman said on Wednesday, amid steep commodity price drops. Albert Yuma made the announcement while presenting a modernisation plan for Gecamines for 2016-2020 that will see the company invest $717 million on operations. click here .

Jun 08 - China commits to curbing steel capacity - U.S. Treasury's Lew
China has committed to curbing its steel capacity and winding down weak state enterprises, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Tuesday at the end of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials in Beijing. "China has committed to ensure that its central government policies and support do not target the net expansion of steel capacity; and to actively and appropriately wind down 'zombie enterprises' through a range of efforts, including restructuring and bankruptcy," Lew said. click here.

Jun 08 - Copper's contango returns after biggest inventory rise in a decade
Cash copper's premium over forward contracts disappeared on Tuesday for the first time in six months after a whopping 43,000 tonnes of metal landed in exchange storage in two days, the biggest delivery in more than a decade. The sudden arrival of metal into Asian sheds reignited concerns about demand from the world's top user and sent cash prices down more than 2 percent to $4,585 per tonne on Tuesday, their lowest in 3-1/2 months. click here.

Jun 08 - London Metal Exchange faces new challenge, this one from its own members: Andy Home
If you want to understand why some members of the London Metal Exchange (LME) are so unhappy with the way things are going that they are considering forming their own metals-trading platform, look no further than the latest exchange notice to members. Dated Monday, the LME said it has received an application for exchange membership from Jump Trading Futures LLC. click here.

Jun 08 - China copper imports jump 19 pct in May, concentrate shipments surge
China's copper imports jumped 19.4 percent from the same month a year ago to 430,000 tonnes in May, customs data showed on Wednesday, swelling already ample supply that is expected to reduce metal imports in coming months. Shipments into China have remained strong this year - up 22 percent over the first five months - after a weaker dollar boosted Chinese purchasing power, swelling exchange and bonded inventories. Exchange stockpiles hit record highs in March. click here.

Jun 08 - U.S. government joins race for cobalt compound stockpiles
The United States has started to stockpile cobalt in the form of chemical compounds used in lithium-ion batteries, because it considers them to be strategic. Lithium-ion batteries are key constituents of electric vehicles, which have been the subject of fast-growing demand due to stricter emissions controls. click here.

Jun 08 - Producers seek Q3 aluminium premiums of $100-110/T from Japan buyers
Top aluminium producers have offered Japanese buyers premiums of $100-110 per tonne for July-September primary metal shipments, down 4-15 percent from the previous quarter, three sources directly involved in pricing talks said on Tuesday. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for regional primary metal shipments. click here.

Jun 08 - S.Africa's NUM union to decide whether to return to work at Northam
Members of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will decide on Wednesday if they will return to work at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde mine, which was shut on Monday after violent clashes between NUM and a rival union. Northam made the initial decision to close operations at the mine but on Tuesday asked the workers to return, saying calm had been restored. click here.

Jun 08 - Zimbabwe chrome miner given deadline to cede half its claims
Zimbabwe's second largest ferrochrome producer Zimbabwe Alloys has been given until the close of business on Tuesday to hand over half its chrome mining claims or risk having them seized, according to a letter from the government seen by Reuters. The southern African nation holds the world's second largest deposits of chrome, which is smelted to produce ferrochrome, a raw material used in stainless steelmaking. click here.

Jun 08 - Congo mining sector sheds 3,000 direct jobs since last year - chamber
Democratic Republic of Congo's mining sector has lost at least 3,000 direct and 10,000 subcontractor jobs since commodity prices began to tumble last year, the chamber of mines said on Tuesday. Congo, Africa's largest copper producer, is heavily dependent on the mining sector, which together with its smaller oil industry accounts for 98 percent of export earnings.
click here.

Jun 07 - LME warehouses poised for transformation on rent capping -sources
Several metals storage companies are set to support an option floated by the London Metal Exchange (LME) to limit the amount of rent they can charge, marking a huge change after years of jostling for advantage, sources said. The LME, the world's biggest and oldest market for industrial metals, has imposed a series of warehousing reforms in recent years after complaints by consumers paying rent to store metal while trapped in backlogs to get delivery of the material. click here.

Jun 07 - What price lithium, the metal of the future? Andy Home
Lithium is shaping up to be The Next Big Thing. Prices are going stratospheric, junior miners are rushing to stake claims on future supply and investment websites are glowing red hot with speculation about the metal's prospects. click here.

Jun 07 - Glencore must face U.S. lawsuit over zinc prices
A U.S. judge said on Monday two units of Anglo-Swiss mining company Glencore Plc  must face a private antitrust lawsuit accusing them of trying to monopolize the market for special high grade zinc, driving up its price. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan said zinc purchasers alleged "a plausible story of market control" by the Glencore units, Glencore Ltd and Pacorini Metals USA Inc, that violated the Sherman Act, a U.S. antitrust law. click here.

Jun 07 - Former LME boss in talks on rival metals trading platform
A former chief executive of the London Metal Exchange is holding talks with trading houses and brokers about launching a new London-based metals trading platform in a challenge to the LME amid discontent over rising fees. They hope to do a feasibility study within a few weeks that would assess the practicalities and costs of an alternative base metals trading platform, Martin Abbott told Reuters on Monday.click here.

Jun 07 - BHP teams up with China to work on iron and steel carbon capture
BHP Billiton on Monday announced a $7.4 million donation to Peking University to develop technology to capture carbon emissions from the iron and steel industries. Analysts said the funding marked a shift, as North America has so far led the way in development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the focus has been on power plants rather than industrial sector emissions. click here.

Jun 07 - Port Hedland iron ore exports to China dip in May
Iron ore shipments to China from Australia's Port Hedland, used by BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group, slipped to 31.7 million tonnes in May from 32.6 million tonnes in April, port data showed on Tuesday. Total shipments from the Indian Ocean port, however, climbed to 39.4 million tonnes in May against 37.7 million tonnes in April, reflecting a rise in exports to Japan and South Korea, according to the Pilbara Ports Authority. click here.

Jun 07 - India's May steel imports lowest in at least 14 months
India's steel imports fell in May to their lowest level in at least 14 months, provisional government data showed, thanks to the country's efforts to cut cheap overseas purchases. India, the world's third-largest steel producer, imported 546,000 tonnes of finished steel last month, nearly 41 percent lower than the same month a year earlier, data from the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) of the steel ministry showed. click here.

Jun 07 - S. Africa's NUM union members will not return to Northam mine until safety assured
Members of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will not return to work at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde mine until their safety is assured after a spate of murders, a spokesman for the union said on Tuesday. Northam suspended production at the mine on Monday after a worker was fatally stabbed during a clash between members of NUM and the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). click here.

Jun 07 - U.S. black box firm Jump Trading applies for LME membership
U.S. black box trading firm Jump Trading LLC has applied to join the London Metal Exchange, which has been seeking to boost liquidity from market makers and speculators. Jump Trading wants to join the LME, the world's biggest and oldest market for industrial metals, as a category 3 member, the LME said in a statement on Monday. click here.

Jun 07 - Centerra Gold blames weak Kyrgyz economy for pressure on gold miner
A weaker economy in Kyrgyzstan is to blame for the Central Asian state "turning up the heat" on Centerra Gold Inc in recent weeks as the country guns for a bigger slice of the miner's profits, Centerra's chief executive said on Monday. In the past five weeks, the Canadian gold miner has, amongst others, been fined around $100 million for environmental damage by a court in Kyrgyzstan, another regulator filed a $230 million lawsuit against it and its local offices have been raided. click here.

Jun 07 - Dollar shortages threaten Zimbabwe mining production
Zimbabwe could lose the equivalent of four months of mining output this year because an acute dollar shortage has led to delays by banks in processing payments for imports of spare parts and supplies, the Chamber of Mines said on Monday. The problem affects the entire mining sector, which includes gold, nickel, chrome, diamonds and coal.
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Jun 03 - Bucking the trend: Australian prospector plans new iron ore mine
As most of the world's small iron ore miners fight for survival, an Australian prospector is preparing to dig a new mine - counting on its high-grade ore and specialist mill buyers to compete in market dominated by mega producers. Quentin Hill, managing director of Carpentaria Exploration, says his company's "super grade" concentrate represents some of the world's richest iron ore pellet feeds, which can yield margins competitive with Vale, Rio Tinto,  BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group, which together control 70 percent of the sea-borne market. click here.

 Jun 03 - Carmakers seek alternatives to UK steel as Tata looks for buyers
Carmakers in Britain are making plans to get more steel from continental Europe, putting pressure on Tata Steel to secure a sale of its troubled UK plants before it loses customers. India's Tata Steel has serious offers on the table after putting its entire UK business up for sale in March to stem heavy losses, blaming costs, market weakness and cheaper imports from countries such as China. click here.

 Jun 03 - Noble Group to raise funds, cut jobs; chairman plans to step down
Noble Group is raising $500 million in a rights issue and its chairman plans to step down within 12 months - the latest in unexpected measures this week as Asia's largest commodity trader struggles with the fallout from an accounting dispute and weak markets. The resignation plans by Chairman Richard Elman, who is also Noble's founder and largest shareholder with a fifth of the company, come just days after its chief executive quit and the firm said it would sell a North American energy business, its crown jewel. click here.

 Jun 03 - Saudi mining hub plays key role in kingdom's industrial dream
At a sprawling desert complex on Saudi Arabia's northeastern Gulf coast, refineries, smelters and casting machines transform dull pink rocks into silver aluminium bars, a symbol of the kingdom's attempt to diversify its economy. After only two years in operation, the $10.8 billion aluminium project at Ras al-Khair, an industrial city 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the oil hub of Dammam, is already the world's largest integrated aluminium facility. click here.

 Jun 03 - ArcelorMittal suspends Quebec mine project on weak market
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is suspending a major project at its Mont-Wright iron ore mine in northern Quebec due to poor market conditions, the company said on Thursday. The company, which employs some 2,500 workers at the mine, informed the United Steelworkers union this week that it will not start an "offload" project in June as planned. The project, which removals surface layers overlaying the deposit, would have extended the mine's lifespan by 15 years to 2045. click here.

 Jun 03 - Russian steelmakers complain of bullying by EU officials
Two of Russia's largest steelmakers NLMK and Severstal have made formal complaints against two EU officials, alleging bullying during an EU investigation into whether China and Russia exported steel at unfairly low prices. Tensions between Russia and Brussels have been high since Moscow's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014 that led to economic sanctions. click here.

 Jun 03 - China's Jiangxi Copper, BHP agree to H2 2016 TC/RCs at $100/T, 10 cents/lb
Chinese top copper smelter Jiangxi Copper has agreed with miner BHP Billiton to set treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for the second half of this year at $100 a tonne and 10 cents a pound, a Jiangxi source said. This is higher than the deal between Jiangxi and miner Antofagasta, a division of Antofagasta Plc, of TC/RCs at $97.35 a tonne and 9.735 cents a pound for the full year of 2016. click here.

 Jun 03 - South Africa's NUM union says 45,000 miners face job cuts
About 45,000 workers face layoffs in the South Africa's struggling mining sector, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday. "More than 45,000 mine workers face retrenchments," NUM president Piet Matosa told a conference. click here.

Jun 02 - Two years after Qingdao scandal, LME bets on electronic tracking of metal
The London Metal Exchange is expanding its new electronic method of tracking metal in warehouses, as the system launched in April gains early traction among some western and Chinese banks, as well as warehousing and metals firms looking to cut risks. Global metals markets were rocked two years ago by a $3 billion fraud in the Chinese port of Qingdao. A firm allegedly duplicated warehouse certificates to pledge metal as collateral for multiple bank loans, hitting companies ranging from Citic to Standard Chartered.  click here.

 Jun 02 - South32 sees more pain ahead for miners
Australia's South32 Ltd expects base metals and coal prices to give up recent gains, inflcting more pain on debt heavy rivals who will eventually be forced to shut loss-making operations, its chief executive said on Thursday. Spun off by BHP Billiton  a year ago with little debt, South32 produces nickel, manganese, aluminium and coal, commodities that have all slumped over the past year due to oversupply and slowing growth in China. click here.

 Jun 02 - Tightening London market a test for zinc bulls: Andy Home
Zinc's star is burning ever more brightly as the year progresses. While other base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) continue to struggle against the headwinds of slowing Chinese growth and a stronger U.S. dollar, zinc has notched up gains of over 21 percent since the start of January. click here.

 Jun 02 - China's Hebei Iron & Steel says U.S. probe damaging world steel trade
China's Hebei Iron & Steel Group, its biggest steelmaker by output, accused the United States of breaching WTO rules and said U.S. protectionism is damaging the world steel trade, in a statement posted on its website on Thursday. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) a week ago launched a probe into Chinese steel mills accused by United States Steel Corp of stealing its secrets and conspiring to fix prices.  click here.

 Jun 02 - Workers may lose jobs at South Africa's Sibanye Gold after wildcat strike, says CEO
Dozens of miners who took part in a wildcat strike over the weekend at Sibanye Gold's Kroondal platinum mine may get fired, its chief executive said on Wednesday. Such a response to illegal union actions could raise tensions on the restive platinum belt. The union involved, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), has reacted to the firing of wildcat strikers in the past with stoppages and violence. click here.

 Jun 02 - India to charge premium for transfer of mining rights
The Indian government has said a company acquiring mining rights from another firm will be charged 80 percent of royalty as premium if the acreage was originally obtained without bidding. The 80 percent charge will be on top of royalty that the new mining lease holder will pay to the state, the government said in an order on Wednesday. click here.

 Jun 02 - Voestalpine considering new stainless steel plant in Austria
Voestalpine is examining whether to build a new stainless steel plant in Austria for up to 300 million euros ($336 million), the group's chief executive said on Thursday. A final decision about a new plant in Kapfenberg in the southern province of Styria will be made within the next 12-18 months, Chief Executive Wolfgang Eder said in a conference call. click here.

 Jun 02 - Australian micro miner says finds big zinc lode
Australian penny stock Rox Resources, backed by mining major Teck Resources of Canada, said it has discovered one of the world's largest zinc deposits in northern Australia, although any decision to mine is years away. The discovery comes seven months after Chinese conglomerate MMG Ltd  shut the nearby exhausted Century zinc mine, once the world's third-biggest, leaving a hole in global supplies of the metal chiefly used to galvanise steel. click here.

 Jun 02 - Ghana sees slight dip in gold production this year
Ghana expects to produce 2.7 million ounces of gold in 2016, down only marginally from last year as new production offsets a decline in output due to lower global prices and ageing mines, the Chamber of Mines said on Wednesday. Gold is the single biggest revenue earner for Ghana, which is following a three-year aid deal with the International Monetary Fund. click here.

Jun 01 - "We won't let them wreck our plant," Tata's Dutch steelworkers say
With Tata Steel's troubled British operations up for sale, Dutch workers at its only other European site for primary steelmaking are in defensive mood, and yet the plant may have a bright future. "We won't let them wreck our plant" is their motto, directed at top managers of the Indian-owned group; some of the 9,000 staff at the IJmuiden plant on the Dutch North Sea coast even wear it to work on their safety helmets. click here.

 Jun 01 - Nippon Steel looks to break up Usiminas after CEO appointment-source
A change of chief executive at Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas has accelerated plans for controlling shareholders Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp and Ternium SA to break up the company, a source close to the Japanese firm said on Tuesday. Nippon Steel, however, issued a statement later denying that it was planning to break up Usiminas, and a spokesman said the focus was on financial restructuring and completing an equity financing. click here.

 Jun 01 - Barrick Gold reaches $140 mln accord in U.S. investor lawsuit
Barrick Gold Corp has agreed to pay $140 million to resolve a U.S. lawsuit accusing the gold producer of concealing problems at a South American mine and of fraudulently inflating the company's market value, according to court papers. The settlement, disclosed in papers filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, would resolve a class action accusing Barrick of deceiving investors about environmental problems afflicting its Pascua-Lama project on the border of Argentina and Chile. click here.

 Jun 01 - Workers to strike at Colombia's Cerro Matoso nickel mine
Union workers at Colombia's Cerro Matoso mine, one of the world's largest producers of ferronickel, will begin an indefinite strike on June 14 in protest of work and pay conditions, the union president said. A strike at Cerro Matoso, owned by Australia's South32 Ltd, could impact global nickel prices as production stalls. Miners last year went on strike at the mine for two weeks before reaching agreement on a dispute that had forced previous owner BHP Billiton to declare force majeure. click here.

 Jun 01 - Russian diamond producer Alrosa reports record profits, sees demand rising in 2016
Russian miner Alrosa, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms, sees global demand for diamonds rising by up to 2 percent in 2016, it said on Tuesday, after reporting record quarterly profits. With its main mines situated in Russia's Far East, the company has benefited from a weakening of the Russian rouble over the past two years, which narrowed its costs in dollar terms, and from a rebound in diamond sales. click here.

 Jun 01 - Workers at Chinalco's copper mine in Peru start strike - union
Worker's at Chinalco Mining Corp International's Toromocho mine in Peru started a four-day strike on Tuesday to demand the reinstatement of a quarterly bonus, the union said. The strike by about 800 workers started at 6:30 local time (1130 GMT) and followed the suspension of the bonus amid slumping copper prices, said Carlos Roman, an attorney for the union. click here.

 Jun 01 - Peru's illegal gold miners back Fujimori's vow to end crackdown
In this wildcat gold mining town in the Peruvian Amazon, the boom is over. A government crackdown on illegal mines at the end of a decade-long gold rush has shuttered restaurants, quieted the town's muddied streets and slowed the flow of migrants from poor Andean towns seeking the jungle's riches. click here.

May 31 - Chile's copper output drops in April due to heavy rains
Copper output in world No. 1 producer Chile fell in April as some mines in the central part of the country were hit by heavy rains and ore grades continued to decline, the government said on Monday. Chile, which produces one-third of the world's copper, is struggling with dwindling ore grades in many of its aging deposits at a time when mining companies are implementing cost-cutting measures to address a steep drop in metals prices. click here.

 May 31 - Australian miner eyes second bonanza with Canadian iron ore bet
An Australian mining veteran who made investors billions with a shrewd bet on coal in Mozambique is aiming for another big score with Canadian iron ore, even as a global gush of new supply threatens to depress already slumping prices. Champion Iron Chief Executive Michael O'Keeffe is laying the groundwork to restart Bloom Lake mine in northern Quebec's metals-rich Labrador Trough. click here.

 May 31 - Noble Group CEO quits unexpectedly, raising doubts over strategy   
Noble Group's CEO Yusuf Alireza quit on Monday, a surprise move that comes just weeks after he secured crucial financing for Asia's biggest commodity trader and raises questions about its future strategy. The embattled company named its president William Randall, and Jeff Frase, global head of oil liquids, as co-CEOs and said it would begin a sale process for Noble Americas Energy Solutions, which it had indicated to be valued at over $1.25 billion in August 2015. click here.

 May 31 - Fortescue to operate second towage service at iron ore port
Australia's Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has won a tender to become the second provider of marine towage services at the port of Port Hedland, the world's busiest export terminal for iron ore. Fortescue, which ships 155 million tonnes of iron ore through the port, and is acquiring its own fleet of freighters, said a subsidiary, Pilbara Marine Pty, was granted a towage license by Pilbara Ports Authority, creating a second service provider and additional capacity at the port. click here.

 May 31 - Russia's Mechel says shareholders approve debt restructuring deals
Shareholders of indebted Russian coal and steel producer Mechel approved on a second attempt a series of debt restructuring deals with major creditors, Mechel said in a statement on Monday. Mechel reached agreements in principle to restructure $5.1 billion of debt with creditors including some of the largest Russian banks and a syndicate of foreign lenders in February, but it had since struggled to get approval from shareholders. click here.

 May 31 - South Africa's Amcu says ending strike at Sibanye's Kroondal mine
Workers at South Africa's Sibanye platinum mine in Rustenburg will return to work this evening following a wildcat strike on Friday, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said on Monday. After a mass meeting at the Rustenburg mine, AMCU general secretary Jeffrey Mphahlele told Reuters the union would meet Sibanye officials to discuss their demand for transport for night-shift workers. click here.

 May 31 - Four killed in Botswana mining accident
Four mine workers were killed and six others critically injured in an accident at Botswana's state-owned BCL copper mine, the minister of energy and minerals said on Monday. The ten employees were travelling underground in a mine shaft elevator on Sunday evening when the accident happened, Minster of Minerals and Energy Kitso Mokaila said in statement. click here.

May 30 - West-to-east gold flow reverses as ETF investment surges
The recent flow of gold from Britain via Switzerland to Asia went into reverse in March and April after a shift in expectations for U.S. interest rate hikes boosted investment in London, Swiss customs data shows. Switzerland's gold exports to Britain hit their highest in 3-1/2 years last month, at 78.8 tonnes. Meanwhile, Switzerland has imported more than 30 tonnes of gold from Hong Kong in the last two months, more than in the whole of the previous year. click here.

 May 30 - Extreme mood swings: Europe miners' revisions at 2-1/2 yr high
Sentiment toward European miners has transformed since the extreme pessimism of early 2016 and the share of upgrades in earnings forecast revisions is now at its highest in more than two years even though metals prices continue to struggle. The European mining sector's earnings revision rate has climbed to a 2-1/2 year high of 56.9 percent from 12.5 percent just about five months ago, Thomson Reuters Datastream shows. click here.

 May 30 - Aluminium producer seeks Q3 premium of $110/T from Japan buyers - sources
A major aluminium producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $110 per tonne for July-September primary metal shipments, down 4-6 percent from the previous quarter, three sources directly involved in pricing talks said on Monday. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. click here.

 May 30 - Australian gold output slips 2 pct as miners dig lower grade ore
Gold output in Australia, the world's second biggest producer, slipped 2 percent in the first quarter, due in part to mining of lesser grade ores during a period of higher bullion prices, a survey released on Sunday showed. Australian gold production reached some 71 tonnes in the first quarter, around 1.5 tonnes, or 2 percent lower, than the previous quarter, according to the survey by sector consultants Surbiton Associates in Melbourne. click here.

 May 30 - Alcoa's spin-off plan sparks dispute with Australian partner Alumina
Australia's Alumina Ltd on Monday said it has "serious concerns" about the impact of a demerger plan of U.S. partner Alcoa Inc on the pair's bauxite and alumina production joint venture, Alcoa Worldwide Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC). Alumina in a statement said it was concerned the plan would "result in a material adverse change in the nature, size, scope and financial wherewithal of Alumina's partner in AWAC." click here.

 May 30 - Chile's Codelco copper output rises, costs fall in first quarter
Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, boosted output and cut cash costs in the first quarter, even as a steep drop in metals prices prompted the Chilean state-run company to post a $151 million pre-tax loss. Production from Codelco's wholly-owned mines rose to 437,000 tonnes, 11 percent higher than a year earlier, mostly due to increases at its century-old Chuquicamata mine and also its newest deposit, Ministro Hales. Its Salvador, El Teniente and Radomiro Tomic mines also helped to boost production. click here.

 May 30 - Speculators cut bullish gold bets as Fed signaled rate hike
Hedge funds and money managers cut their bullish bets in U.S. gold futures and options to their lowest in almost two months after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it could raise interest raise rates as early as June, data showed on Friday. In the week to May 24, they cut their net long in silver and added to their bearish bets in copper, taking the total to the highest since January, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. click here.

 May 30 - Aluminium Bahrain says capital cost of expansion project cut by $500 mln
Aluminium Bahrain, owner of one of the world's largest smelters, said on Sunday the global drop in oil prices has cut the projected capital cost of its Line 6 expansion by $500 million to a total of $3 billion. The Line 6 project is expected to boost Alba's annual output by 540,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes a year with "first hot metal" due to flow in early January 2019.  click here.

 May 30 - China April copper output up 14.9 pct y/y - stats bureau
China produced 694,000 tonnes of copper in April, up 14.9 percent on the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said, with the increased volumes weighing on prices. Production over the first four months of the year hit 2.715 million tonnes, up 11 percent compared to the previous year. click here.

May 27 - U.S. panel launches trade secret theft probe into China steel
U.S. regulators on Thursday launched an investigation into complaints by United States Steel Corp that Chinese competitors stole its secrets and fixed prices, in the latest trade spat between the two countries. The International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a statement that it has not made any decisions on the merits of the case. click here.

 May 27 - Mining in hard times: small teams and big trucks for BHP's Olympic Dam
A vast copper and uranium lode in Australia's parched outback, global miner BHP Billiton's  Olympic Dam was long emblematic of the industry's boom year projects: complex, ambitious and - until 2012 - slated for a $20 billion expansion. Like its rivals, BHP is still betting on copper, and the ore under Olympic Dam's red desert sand is key to that. click here.

May 27 - Surge in Chinese zinc output could shrink forecast global deficit
Chinese zinc miners and smelters cranked up output in March after prices rallied, raising questions over the market's bullish scenario by potentially delaying global shortages. Zinc has been the darling of the base metals market and the best performer this year, with many investors piling in to benefit from a tightening market after shutdowns at a number of major mines. click here.

 May 27 - Goldman sees China steel demand weakening as 'too many furnaces' reopen
Producers that returned to China's steel market after a price rally earlier this year may be forced to run below capacity as demand weakens for the rest of 2016, Goldman Sachs said. "Too many blast furnaces have been reheated, and excess steel production is driving a modest restocking at a time when inventories are usually drawn down," Goldman analysts Christian Lelong and Amber Cai said in a report dated May 26. click here.

 May 27 - U.S. rates likely to trump geopolitical jitters and drive gold lower
The threat to gold from a rise in U.S. rates will outweigh the potentially positive impact of a raft of geopolitical tensions, if the relationship between gold prices and real interest rates in recent years is anything to go by. Since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, gold prices have moved in a lockstep inverse relationship to real U.S. interest rates, calculated by subtracting inflation from 10-year Treasury yields. click here.

 May 27 - Top China steel city orders mills to cut output to clear air
China's top steelmaking city of Tangshan has ordered mills in and near the area to cut production for five days from Friday to ease air pollution, according to a notice from the local government. It was not clear how much capacity is affected but Tangshan is the biggest city in Hebei province, which accounts for more than 20 percent of China's steel output. click here.

 May 27 - Gold market set for new code of conduct from 2017
Gold market participants will be covered from next year by a new code of best practice brought in to replace the bullion market annex of the Non-Investment Products (NIPs) code, the London Bullion Market Association said on Thursday. The announcement came after the first global code of conduct for currency trading was launched earlier on Thursday, focusing largely on the detail of how banks deal with clients' orders, and aimed at rebuilding trust in the world's biggest financial market. click here.

 May 27 - Anglo American appoints Bruce Cleaver CEO of De Beers
Global mining company Anglo American Plc said it appointed Bruce Cleaver as chief executive of its diamond mining unit De Beers Group, after previous CEO Philippe Mellier decided to step down. De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer by value, will remain part of Anglo American's operations even after a radical restructuring of the latter, in the belief that surging Chinese and Indian demand for diamonds will outstrip dwindling supply. click here.

 May 27 - U.S. firm files class action against Brazil steelmaker Gerdau
New York investor rights law firm Pomerantz LLP filed a class action suit against Brazil's Gerdau SA, Latin America's largest steelmaker, alleging the company issued materially misleading business information filed to investors over tax liabilities. Porto Alegre, Brazil-based Gerdau is the latest Brazilian company with shares traded in the United States to face actual or potential lawsuits over securities fraud as a result of Brazilian corruption investigations. click here.

May 26 - Britain plans steel pensions overhaul to ease sale of Tata assets
Britain's government said on Thursday it had started discussions on overhauling the deficit-laden British Steel Pension Scheme, a major stumbling block for potential buyers of Tata Steel's UK assets.With serious offers now on the table for Tata Steel UK, Britain's government is racing against time to find a way to put the company's British pension fund on a sound footing to help facilitate a sale. click here.

May 26 - U.S. levies hefty duties on Chinese corrosion-resistant steel
Corrosion-resistant steel from China will face final U.S. anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to 450 percent under the U.S. Commerce Department's latest clampdown on a glut of steel imports, the agency said on Wednesday. The department also issued anti-dumping duties of 3 percent to 92 percent on producers of corrosion-resistant steel in Italy, India, South Korea and Taiwan, it said in a statement. click here.

 May 26 - Cameron says Tata Steel UK gets "encouraging" offers
Tata Steel has received a number of serious offers for its businesses in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday as steel workers marched past Downing Street to put pressure on the government to get a deal. Britain's steel industry has been hit by cheap Chinese imports, high energy costs and a global supply glut and in March Tata said it wanted to sell its remaining plants in the country, putting 15,000 jobs at risk. click here.

 May 26 - Brazil's Usiminas taps Leite as CEO in sign of easing dispute
Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA tapped veteran executive Sergio Leite as chief executive officer on Wednesday, as Brazil's largest listed flat steelmaker battles to turn around a business hurt by a recession, cheap imports and rising debt. In a securities filing, the board of Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based Usiminas approved a management shuffle in which Ascanio de Figueiredo Silva was picked to replace Leite as senior vice president for sales. Ronald Seckelmann will remain as chief financial officer, the filing said. click here.

 May 26 - Jiangxi Copper says China should prevent excess imports - exec
China should prevent excess imports of copper to offset output cuts by domestic smelters, a senior executive at Jiangxi Copper said on Thursday. Wu Yuneng, vice-president of China's top producer of the metal, also told a conference in Shanghai that banks should not lend to inefficient companies suffering overcapacity. click here.

 May 26 - Kyrgyz court fines Centerra Gold unit Kumtor $98 mln
A court in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday fined the country's biggest gold miner, Kumtor Operating Company, a unit of Canada's Centerra Gold Inc, 6.7 billion soms ($98 million) for environmental damage. Kumtor's lawyers told reporters at the hearing that they would appeal the ruling. click here.

 May 26 - Amplats bid to buy peace around prized South African mine may backfire
Anglo American Platinum's bid to appease a community near its most profitable South African mine may unravel, highlighting the challenges of managing flashpoints of social unrest while trying to shore up its balance sheet. The world's largest open-pit platinum mine, Mogalakwena was shut for two weeks last year when residents of the surrounding shanty towns rioted, protesting against the government's failure to provide services and the mine's failure to provide jobs. click here.

 May 26 - Russia's Gokhran has no plans to buy palladium, polished diamonds
Russian precious metals and gems repository Gokhran does not need to add palladium or polished diamonds to its stocks in 2016, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said on Wednesday. Gokhran, which is part of the finance ministry, has said repeatedly in recent years that it plans to start buying palladium from Russian miners, but only made small purchases to test the market in 2015. click here.

 May 26 - Finland starts preparations to shut troubled nickel mine
The Finnish government will start preparations for closing down Talvivaara's former nickel mine in northern Finland, economy minister Olli Rehn said on Wednesday. The final decision on closing the loss-making mine will be made later this year, if no private investor is found to keep it running by then, Rehn said. click here.

 May 26 - Liberia grand jury indicts Sable Mining, officials for bribery
A grand jury in Liberia on Wednesday indicted government officials, including the speaker of parliament and the head of the ruling party, along with London AIM-listed Sable Mining on charges including bribery. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered an inquiry into Sable's acquisition of an iron ore concession in northern Liberia after the watchdog group Global Witness made accusations of wrong-doing in a report earlier this month. click here.

 May 26 - ArcelorMittal South Africa says Saldanha steel plant will keep operating
ArcelorMittal South Africa's Saldanha plant will keep operating, its chairman said on Wednesday, after the facility was placed under review earlier this year due to low steel prices and rising costs. The plant, north of Cape Town is the newest in the company's fleet and was opened in 1998 to focus specifically on steel exports, but low steel prices and high electricity and transport costs made it unprofitable last year.  "As the board, we are comfortable that we will have a Saldanha that is a good, healthy, performing business for a long period," said ArcelorMittal South Africa Chairman Mpho Makwana. click here.

 May 26 - Workers at Toromocho copper mine in Peru plan strike May 31
Workers at Chinalco Mining Corp International's copper mine Toromocho in Peru are planning a four-day strike on Tuesday to press for the reinstatement of a quarterly bonus tied to company results, the union said on Wednesday. The stoppage at the Chinese-owned mine has been scheduled to start at 6:30 a.m. local time (1130 GMT), Carlos Orellana, secretary of defense of the union, said by phone. click here.

May 25 - Top banks gain from discontent over hefty LME fee increases
Core industrial clients of the London Metal Exchange (LME), unhappy with a steep rise in trading fees, are taking some of their business to top-tier investment banks and rival exchanges, industry sources said. Business moving to banks and in some cases, the CME group, is reflected by a 4 percent drop in volumes on the 139-year old exchange last year, the first annual fall since 2009. click here.

 May 25 - China's nickel imports still flattering to deceive: Andy Home
China is importing more nickel than ever before. Headline imports of refined metal hit a new all-time record high of 49,012 tonnes in April. The cumulative tally of 157,600 tonnes over the first four months of the year represents a 115,000-tonne increase over the same period of last year. click here.

 May 25 - Brazil police probe U.S. Steel venture, Tenaris pipe unit
Brazilian police said on Tuesday they investigated local units of three international steelmakers in a second-straight day of raids probing graft at the country's state-controlled oil producer, Petroleo Brasileiro SA . Police and prosecutors allege that Apolo Tubulars, which is 50 percent owned by United States Steel, and Luxembourg-based Tenaris SA's  Brazilian unit Confab were involved in a bribery scheme to win work from Petrobras, as the oil company is known. click here.

 May 25 - Indonesia renews Newmont Mining's copper export licence for six months
Indonesia's mining ministry recommended renewing the export licence for the local unit of U.S. copper and gold miner Newmont Mining Corp  to export copper concentrate for the next six months, a ministry official said on Tuesday. Newmont, Indonesia's second-biggest copper miner, will be allowed to export up to 419,757 tonnes of copper concentrate from its Batu Hijau mine in eastern Indonesia, Coal and Minerals Director General Bambang Gatot told reporters. click here.

 May 25 - Freeport staff to oversee transition at Tenke copper mine in Congo
The Chinese company buying Freeport McMoRan Inc's majority stake in the Tenke copper mine has told the Congolese government that Freeport staff will oversee the operation for a transitional period of 12 to 18 months, an adviser to the prime minister said on Tuesday. A delegation from China Molybdenum Co (CMOC) is visiting Democratic Republic of Congo this week to reassure government officials who have expressed alarm about the change of ownership of the largest private investment in the country's history, the adviser said. click here.

 May 25 - Venezuela to rejoin global group fighting conflict diamonds
Venezuela expects to rejoin the global watchdog established to stop trade in conflict diamonds as it seeks to resume diamond exports, its central bank director said on Tuesday. "We are certain we will rejoin this year," Jose Khan told Reuters on the sidelines of an international meeting of the group, known as the Kimberley Process. click here.

 May 25 - Serbia's sole copper miner plans job cuts to return to profit
Serbia's RTB Bor copper mine plans to lay off nearly a third of its workforce over a five-year period and hire new management in an attempt to return to profit in the face of low copper prices, an executive said on Tuesday. Burdened with one billion euros ($1.1 billion) of debt, state-owned RTB Bor has been protected from creditors but the government has said that status will end this month as part of a 1.2 billon euro International Monetary Fund loan deal.  click here.

 May 25 - Kinross continues processing at strike-hit Mauritania gold mine
The processing facility remains in operation at Kinross Gold Corp's Tasiast mine in Mauritania, a spokesman for the miner said on Tuesday after workers at the site went on strike. Management at the mine in western North Africa also have a contingency plan to minimize the impacts of the strike, which includes processing stockpiled material, Kinross spokesman Louie Diaz said in an email. He did not give details of the plan. click here.

 May 25 - France's Macron backs mineral exploration, rues lost GMO research
France will encourage more exploration in oil and gas as well as other minerals to reduce its dependence on imports, backed by new mining legislation to be put before parliament, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. The government has already awarded 10 exploration permits under a new "responsible mining" approach drawn up to accompany the bill to be introduced in parliament within months, Macron told a commodities conference in Paris. click here.

May 24 - Coking coal's sensible response to China's steel boom: Russell
With China's steel and iron ore bubble popped, the market is struggling to work out what price levels these commodities should be trading around. Perhaps coking coal provides good guidance. Coking, or metallurgical, coal is the second major component, along with iron ore, in making steel, but it doesn't attract as much attention given the limited ways to trade it and relatively strong concentration of producers. click here.

 May 24 - Collapsed Australian steelmaker Arrium eyes sale of profitable Moly-Cop unit
Troubled Australian steel group Arrium Ltd, which collapsed last month after creditors rejected a private equity bailout, will hire a global investment bank to advise on the sale of its profitable Moly-Cop mining supplies unit, the firm's administrator said on Monday. Moly-Cop, which makes steel balls to grind ore, among other items, operates mostly in the United States and Latin America, and had been excluded until now from Arrium's restructuring after a private equity sale collapsed last year. click here.

 May 24 - China not encouraging large steel exports - industry body
China is not encouraging large steel exports and has taken measures to control shipments offshore, the country's steel association said on Tuesday. "The Chinese steel industry is willing to solve trade disputes through cooperation ... it strongly opposes protectionism and making steel trade a political issue," the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said in a report on its website. click here.

 May 24 - Indonesia renews Newmont Mining's copper export licence for six months
Indonesia's mining ministry has issued the local unit of U.S. copper and gold miner Newmont Mining Corp with a recommendation to continue copper concentrate exports for the next six months, a ministry official said on Tuesday. Newmont, Indonesia's second-biggest copper miner, will be allowed to export "around 400,000" tonnes of copper concentrate from its mine in eastern Indonesia, Coal and Minerals Director General Bambang Gatot told reporters, without providing further details. click here.

 May 24 - New Mexico sues EPA, mine owners over massive gold mine waste spill
New Mexico sued the U.S. Environmental Protection agency, an agency contractor and two mining companies on Monday over the 2015 breach of an abandoned Colorado gold mine that spilled some 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater into three states. The Gold King Mine spill, which was accidentally triggered by EPA inspection team called to the mine to inspect an existing seepage, unleashed a torrent of yellow sludge which contained high concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead. click here.

 May 24 - Copper market in 24,000 tonnes surplus in Feb 2016 - ICSG
LONDON, May 23, The global world refined copper market showed a 24,000 tonnes surplus in February, compared with a 51,000 tonnes surplus in January, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said in its latest monthly bulletin. For the first 2 months of the year, the market was in a 76,000 tonnes surplus compared with a 134,000 tonnes surplus in the same period a year earlier, the ICSG said. click here.

 May 24 - Czech unions join investors to bid for insolvent NWR arm
Czech miners' unions have teamed up with lignite mine owner Pavel Tykac and another investor to make on offer for New World Resources' insolvent mining subsidiary OKD, the unions said on Monday. The unions did not give any details of their offer to NWR, which is mainly owned by a trio of international investment funds. OKD, NWR's main business, filed for insolvency this month after failing to secure government aid. click here.

 May 24 - Gold miner Polyus evacuates miners after pit landslide in Siberia
Russia's largest gold producer Polyus has evacuated 89 out of 153 of its miners blocked after a landslide at the Vostochny pit of its Olimpiada mine in Siberia, the company said on Monday. There were no injuries after the slide of some 50,000 to 70,000 cubic metres of rock, and Polyus said the remaining miners would be evacuated by 1200 GMT. click here

May 23 - CME bids to boost its metal storage network, challenge LME
The CME Group is talking to several warehouse companies to expand its metal storage network globally, three metal industry sources told Reuters, a move that could further challenge the London Metal Exchange's (LME) dominance. In recent years the CME, the world's largest futures market operator, has been steadily building its storage network - partly as a result of controversy surrounding the LME warehouse system.click here.

 May 23 - China's May iron ore imports stay robust, majors squeeze rivals: Russell
China's imports of iron ore are likely to have maintained their recent strength in May, as top suppliers Australia and Brazil continue to squeeze market share from smaller rivals. Imports this month are likely to come in around 84.76 million tonnes, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Thomson Reuters Commodity Research and Forecasts. click here.

 May 23 - Buyout group to back rival's bid for Tata's UK steel assets - sources
Excalibur Steel, a management buyout group interested in purchasing Tata Steel's British steelmaking operations, is ready to lend its support to rival bidder Liberty House, two industry sources told Reuters on Sunday. Tata said in March it wanted to sell its UK steel operation, which has been hit by cheap Chinese imports, rising costs and weak demand. click here.

 May 23 - U.S. measures to protect steel sector do not address root problem - China Commerce Ministry
U.S. efforts to protect its steel industry will not solve the sector's fundamental problems, which stem from past protectionist measures, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday. The comments were posted on the ministry's website following a decision on Friday by the U.S. International Trade Commission to continue probing imports of certain steel products from 12 countries, including China and Korea. click here.

 May 23 - Sluggish Chinese demand, new battery tax weighs on lead
Lead, the worst performing industrial metal on the London Metal Exchange this year, is set to stay under pressure due to weak demand in China, where a new tax has been slapped on lead-acid batteries and authorities are cracking down on electric-bikes. Lead depends on lead-acid batteries for about 80 percent of demand in top consumer China. click here.

 May 23 - Regulator asks China Molybdenum how it will finance Brazil buy
China Molybdenum (CMOC) said Chinese regulators have asked it to disclose how it will finance its $1.5 billion acquisition of Anglo American Plc's niobium and phosphates business in Brazil. The request comes after CMOC, one of China's largest producers of molybdenum, agreed to buy Freeport-McMoRan Inc's stake in the Tenke copper project in Democratic Republic of Congo for $2.65 billion. click here.

 May 23 - Funds raised bullish gold bets before Fed signaled June rate hike
Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in COMEX gold futures and options in the week to May 17, a day before the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it could raise interest raise rates as early as June, data showed on Friday. Speculative investors added 1,767 lots to take their total to 227,651, while they cut their bullish bets for silver by 4,674 contracts to 66,982. click here.

 May 23 - Zimbabwe's platinum industry calls for $2.8 bln in new investment
Zimbabwe could double annual platinum production to more than 900,000 ounces in the next decade, making the metal the nation's top export earner but current producers need $2.8 billion in new investment to do so, an industry association said on Friday. The southern African nation holds the second largest known reserves of platinum after South Africa but mines have struggled with low prices, a black empowerment law forcing mines to sell more than 50 percent of the business to locals, and power shortages. click here.