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

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...

Turkey and Iran may jointly build two petrochemical units, state-run Press TV news channel reported, citing Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister.

Iran and Turkey are discussing construction of an urea and an ammonia unit in the industrial hub of Assaluyeh in southern Iran, Press TV said, citing Abdolhossein Bayat, who is also the managing director of National Iranian Petrochemical Co.

Talks include construction of a petrochemical plant in Miyandoab in western Azerbaijan province that can produce 539,000 tons of petrochemical products annually, the TV station reported.

Bayat, who...

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...

Gold declined in New York as signs that the global economic recovery is taking root curbed investor demand for the metal as a means of protecting wealth and as yesterday’s gain dampened physical purchases.

Gold yesterday rose 1.2 percent, the most in more than three weeks. Singapore’s government today raised the forecast for full-year economic growth to as much as 15 percent, while Intel Corp. reported record second-quarter sales and topped analysts’ estimates with its forecast for the coming period. Asian shares gained and U.S. index futures rose. European stocks were down 0.5...

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.

Gold prices, little changed in New York today, may decline for a fourth day after China’s inflation and industrial output accelerated, adding pressure on the government to pare stimulus measures.

China’s inflation reached a 16-month high and production increased the most in more than five years. Bullion climbed 24 percent last year as central banks maintained low interest rates and spent trillions to stimulate economies. Gold prices dropped the most in a month yesterday on speculation demand for the metal will slow as the Greek financial crisis eases.

Mongolia Energy Corp, a former technology company that remade itself into a natural resources developer in 2007, will deliver its first coking coal cargo this August and is also looking at projects beyond Mongolia, a senior executive said.

Mineral rich Mongolia is attracting more attention from global investors after a deal in October with Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto to develop the $3 billion Oyu Tolgoi mine, one of the world’s biggest untapped copper and gold deposits.