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

The Indian-focused miner said aluminium production rose 7% while production of its most profitable product, zinc, rose 29% which helped it take advantage of rising metal prices.

Indian-focused miner Vedanta Plc saw record aluminium production in its fourth quarter and a 29 percent jump in refined zinc from its Indian operations, helping it take advantage of rising metal prices.

Output of refined zinc, the group’s most profitable product, was 194,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter ended March 2011 from its Indian mines, with production at its Skorpion Zinc mine in Namibia totalling...

The company IMX Resources is officially opening its Cairn Hill mine in South Australia’s outback today.

The iron ore and copper mine is south of Coober Pedy and will directly employ 150 people and have a life of up to 20 years.

Premier Mike Rann will be at the opening – an event the company’s managing director, Duncan McBain, says proves that South Australia has a strong future in the resource sector.

“We’ll mine down to about 120 metres below ground level in two small pits,” Mr McBain said.

“Potentially it could go underground...

Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration recently purchased more than 2.4 million common shares of Riverside Resources Inc. — a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company — for $1.45 million.

Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration recently purchased more than 2.4 million common shares of Riverside Resources Inc. — a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company — for $1.45 million.

In June Cliffs and Riverside signed an agreement to explore and acquire iron oxide-copper-gold projects in Mexico.

“This investment by Cliffs into Riverside solidifies the partnership between...

Brazilian mining giant Vale is not preparing a bid for Canada’s Potash Corp, two sources close to Vale told Reuters on Monday.

Potash, the world’s largest fertilizer supplier, is fighting off a $39 billion takeover offer from Australian mining company BHP Billiton and is seeking a white knight.

One source with direct knowledge of the situation, asked about a possible Vale bid, said, “I’m not seeing any movement in that direction. It’s a very big operation. If there were an offer, there would have to be some kind of movement.”

A second...

Stocks in Australia’s biggest mining companies rose Monday as the government’s plans for a new tax on their profits were thrown into doubt after the nation’s closest election in almost 50 years delivered no clear mandate.

Trading in the rest of the market was flat, however, and Australia’s chamber of commerce urged companies to continue investing despite what will likely be two or three weeks of uncertainty about who will govern the country for the coming three years.

The center-left Labor Party — which has ruled for the past three years and remains in...

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.