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

Horizonte, the AIM quoted exploration and development company focused on Brazil, is pleased to announce that it has signed a US$4.5 million earn in agreement on its 100% owned Falcao gold project, located in the Carajas Mineral Province of northern Brazil, with major gold producer and exploration partner, AngloGold Ashanti Limited.

Highlights

- AngloGold can earn into 51% of the Falcao project by spending US$4.5 million on exploration and development over three years

- First year cash commitment of US$900,000 on exploration funding

- Fast track drill programme to...

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...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is likely to call an election on Saturday, broadcaster ABC reported on Friday, in a move that could seal the fate of the Labor government’s proposed mining tax.

The government aims to raise A$10.5 billion from 2012 under the watered-down 30 percent tax agreed by global miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, but the conservative opposition has vowed to dump it.

Opinion polls published in Fairfax and News Ltd newspapers put Labor ahead of the conservative opposition at 52 percent versus 48 percent. For a Reuters poll trend, see:...

Fights about proper ownership of natural resources, especially mined product, have been a feature of Australian public policy debate since early settlement. Lack of consultation, arbitrariness and an overweening and greedy government famously caused the Eureka rebellion.

Fast forward to today, we have all these ingredients minus the muskets, plus retrospectivity, sovereign risk, slavering international competitors such as Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, and a growing capital strike.

Much of the future impact of the Rudd government’s new mining tax is thought to fall on...

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.

Nippon Steel Corp., Japan’s largest steelmaker, will pursue investments in iron ore and coal mines, joining rivals in a bid to curb costs and secure supplies of the steelmaking ingredients.

The company wants to supply 50 percent of its raw material needs by buying stakes in mines or developing new ones “as early as we can,” Executive Vice President Shinichi Taniguchi said March 4 in an interview in Tokyo. Mines partly owned by the mill supply 35 percent of its iron ore and 25 percent of its coking coal needs.

Nippon Steel Corp., Japan’s largest steelmaker, will pursue investments in iron ore and coal mines, joining rivals in a bid to curb costs and secure supplies of the steelmaking ingredients.

The company wants to supply 50 percent of its raw material needs by buying stakes in mines or developing new ones “as early as we can,” Executive Vice President Shinichi Taniguchi said March 4 in an interview in Tokyo.

Asian stocks rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a six-week high, as better-than-estimated U.S. jobs data and a pledge by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support...