mineral exploration project – commodity prices – mining stock- trade and market

China’s gold producers will extend this quarter’s rally as demand for the precious metal increases and inflation exceeds government forecasts, according to Central China Securities Holdings Co. and Guoyuan Securities Co.

Zijin Mining Group Co. and Zhongjin Gold Corp., the nation’s two biggest bullion producers, are good investments as consumer prices are expected to rise around 3.5 percent this month, Li Jun, a Shanghai-based strategist at Central China, said in an interview yesterday. Inflation accelerated to 3.3 percent in July, the highest since October 2008.

“In this...

Market Roundup

Crude Oil prices fell yesterday, but a bounce by equity markets pulled crude futures well above lows and allowed traders to shrug off data showing combined U.S. crude and product stocks rose to the highest since weekly records began in 1990.

In Focus

- U.S. commercial crude and product stocks rose last week to the highest level since the U.S. government began tracking weekly data, government data showed Wednesday, a sign fuel supply is outpacing demand amid a slow U.S. economic recovery.

- China’s diesel exports...

Stocks and the dollar dropped and Treasuries rallied, sending the yield on the two-year note below 0.5 percent for the first time, as lower-than-estimated growth in company payrolls added to evidence the economic recovery is slowing. Gold extended the longest advance since November.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent to 1,121.64 at 4 p.m. in New York, trimming a drop of as much as 1.7 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 1.1 percent, reversing earlier gains. Two-year Treasury yields fell to as low as 0.4977 percent. The dollar slumped to an eight-month low...

Brazilian mining giant Vale’s second-quarter net profit surged on higher iron ore prices and stronger demand.

Vale, the world’s largest producer and exporter of iron ore and iron pellets, reported a second-quarter net profit of $US3.71 billion, up from $US790 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The miner, which is also the world’s second-largest nickel producer, said revenue for the quarter jumped 95.3 per cent to $US9.93bn, compared with $US5.1bn a year ago.

Prices for iron ore, which provides the bulk of Vale’s revenue, more than doubled in...

Iron ore production fell last year for the first time in seven years but continuing demand for the raw material from the Chinese steel industry ensured that the volume of trade increased again, a United Nations report released today says.

Global production dropped by 6.2 per cent to 1.588 billion tons, according to the report published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in cooperation with the Sweden-based Raw Materials Group.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., North America’s largest iron-ore producer, said it’s still in talks with customers about how they will pay for the steelmaking raw material after a four-decade-old annual price system ended.

Changes to the pricing of iron ore and coking coal are “resulting in a more fluid and uncertain near-term pricing environment for these commodities,” the Cleveland-based company said today in a statement.

The Australian sharemarket closed three per cent higher for the week, as middling-to-positive leads from European stocks and Wall Street culminated in a solid weekly close, after China rejected reports it was considering reviewing its European bond holdings.

For the week, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 3.15 per cent to 4,457.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index jumped 7.58 per cent to 4,479 points.

AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver said it looked like a correction in equities and commodities prices was under way, and a decent rally was beginning.

A major investment by a Chinese company puts a big mining project near Eureka back on track.

General Moly Mines...