Novelis forced to import aluminum sheet due to Kentucky outage

(Minews) - Novelis Inc was forced to import aluminum can sheet from Asia and South America to make up for lost output from a three-week outage at its U.S. joint venture rolling mill in January, Chief Executive Officer Phil Martens said on Monday.The mill, which Novelis co-owns with Tri Arrows Aluminun,...

Rio Tinto earmarks more cost cutting for iron ore division

(Minews) - Wage changes, continued hiring freezes and service contract reviews have been flagged in a leaked document outlining Rio Tinto's latest cost-cutting strategy within its iron ore division.In a memo sent to employees, the miner's chief executive for Iron Ore operations Andrew Harding outlined ...

Copper price drop 'worrisome' for Peru growth

(Minews) - Peru's economy will be hit by a "worrisome" drop in the price of copper but should still expand by more than 4 percent this year, Finance Minister Alonso Segura said on Tuesday.The official growth target for 2015 is 4.8 percent, double last year's estimated expansion of 2.4 percent....

Greece aims to halt Skouries gold mine

(Minews) - Greece's new government will take steps to halt a Canadian-run gold mine project and aims to cancel a development scheme at Athens' former airport, pressing ahead with plans to roll back the country's privatisation programme.The government is dominated by the left-wing Syriza party, which ...

Record iron ore glut seen by ANZ as price forecasts cut by 30%

(Minews) - The global iron ore surplus will more than double to a record this year as low-cost producers keep on expanding, according to Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., which cut price forecasts as much as 30 percent.The raw material will average $58 a metric ton in 2015, down from an ...

Steel mill comes on stream in southeastern Iran

(Minews) - The first phase of a steel production unit came on stream in the town of Bardsir in Iran's southeastern province of Kerman.Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri officially inaugurated the plant on Monday, the Mehr News Agency reported. The first phase of mill, costing 4.2 trillion ...

China's iron ore prices to decline moderately in Feb

(Minews) - The China Iron & Steel Association has forecast that the price of imported iron ore will decline moderately in February mainly due to weakening demand and persistent oversupply, which is in line with expectations of Chinese market sources."China's crude steel output will probably ...

Rich world helping bankroll export of coal technology

(Minews) - Rich nations provided nearly $15 billion over a decade from 2003 to 2013 to fund exports of coal-fired power plant and coal mining technology, data seen by Reuters shows, defying calls to end subsidies for the most polluting of the fossil fuels.A document prepared late last year by the Paris-...

China to mine valuable metals on the world's seabeds

(Minews) - A unit of Chinese trainmaker CSR Corp has bought a British firm behind the building of the world's first deep-sea mining robot, signalling China's ambitions to mine valuable metals on the world's seabeds.Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co Ltd, which supplies rail equipment, said it is paying HK$1....

Dubai gold jewelry demand higher after slow star to year

(Minews) - Gold-jewelry demand in Dubai is picking up after a slow start to the year when buyers were held back due to high prices, according to Tawhid Abdullah, chairman of the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group, a retailer in the gold souk.Industry sales are probably 8 percent higher so far this year ...

Zambia copper output falls to three-year low amid tax spat

(Minews) - Copper output in Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest producer of the metal, fell to a three-year low in 2014, just as the implementation of a contested new mining tax threatens a further drop, according to the mines chamber.Preliminary figures show production declined to 708,258 metric ...

Iran eyes $2bn investment in seven steel projects

(Minews) - Iran has allotted an investment of over €2 billion ($2.263 billion) on seven new steel projects, said Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, industries, mines and trade minister of Iran.Nematzadeh said extensive measures have been taken to develop the mineral sector, at the inaugural ceremony of ...

Iran planning to export more gold to int'l markets

(Minews) - An Iranian official said that the country's gold industry is ready to boost exports to hit new markets with its quality products.Head of the Iranian Gold Producers and Exporters Union Ebadollah Mohammad-Vali said that Iran is exporting gold to Turkey, adding, Persian Gulf states which are ...

China gold output rises over 5 pct in 2014

(Minews) - China's gold output climbed 5.5 percent last year to nearly 452 tonnes, making the country the world's biggest producer for the eighth straight year, the China Gold Association said on Friday.Total consumption reached around 886 tonnes over the year, down 24.7 percent on a year earlier, the ...

Colombia coal railway's overnight ban may start next week

(Minews) - A ruling ordering Colombia's Fenoco coal railway to stop running trains overnight after noise complaints by nearby residents could take effect from next Friday, a court source told Reuters, potentially cutting capacity for several large miners to export.The railway operated by U.S.-based ...

Cheap imports drag Tata Steel earnings down 69 percent

(Minews) - Tata Steel Ltd posted a 69 percent drop in quarterly profit as a raw material shortage curtailed domestic production and a flood of cheap imports hurt profitability in its European and Indian operations.A slowdown in China and a devaluation of the Russian rouble have led to a surge in cheaper ...

Iran to increase steel production capacity by 11.6mln tons

(Minews) - Iran plans to raise its capacity to produce steel by 11.6 million tons with the collaboration of a number of domestic and foreign companies.According to a master plan devised by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), several new steel factories ...

Rio warns on iron ore volatility as high-cost mines close

(Minews) - The global iron ore market is in a period of transition as high-cost mines are displaced by cheaper output, according to Rio Tinto Group, which highlighted the potential for significant volatility until a new balance is found.There have already been cuts at mines in China, as well as by other ...

US miner accuses Australia of ‘manipulating’ currency

(Minews) - Cliffs Natural Resources chief executive Lourenco Goncalves accused Australia of manipulation on Tuesday. According to the American miner, Australia is manipulating its currency.Goncalves referred to the richest person in Australia, Gina Rinehart, as “Gina whatever” whom Australia is ...

Ghana power crisis to hurt gold output if prolonged

(Minews) - Ghana's power crisis, which has seen long electric cuts on a nearly daily basis, will hurt gold production if it is prolonged, the chief executive of country's Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, told Reuters on Thursday.Gold is one of the West African state's main revenue earners but the industry ...