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A new mine level being constructed at Codelco’s El Teniente will extend the mine’s life by 50 years.

Chile’s Codelco, the world’s No.1 copper producer, is about to issue a bond deal of up to $2.5 billion over the coming weeks, although it is not clear yet whether it would be in U.S. dollars or Euros, mine minister Aurora Williams said Thursday.

Read more at: http://www.mining.com/chiles-codelco-to-issue-2-5-billion-in-bonds-amid-copper-prices-collapse/

Iron ore has endured one of its worst sessions on record, with a fresh 11 per cent plunge taking its price to a 10-year low.

At the end of the latest session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US44.10 a tonne, down 11.3 per cent from its prior close of $US49.70 a tonne.

Read more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/iron-ore-hit-by-historic-collapse/story-e6frg90f-1227434407225

Prices of the metal used to make stainless steel will gain about 20 per cent over the next six months to $US14,000 a metric ton as the market heads toward a deficit next year, Goldman predicts. Photo: Gillianne Tedder

Read more at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/goldman-sachs-prefers-disappointing-nickel-as-rebound-expected-20150707-gi6zrh.html

Consumer Technology The first commercially available consumer product using graphene will soon be available in the UK – in the form of a light bulb coated in the much-hyped material. The graphene light bulb – which reportedly will reduce electricity use by around 10%, and will last longer than a conventional bulb – is currently expected to go on sale later this year for around £15 a pop.

Read more at : https://lockerdome.com/7414496297765953/7825301430347284

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/iron-ore-price-fall-sign-081015155.html

It’s like using fiber optics to communicate – only without the fiber.

Imagine connecting to the Internet through the same room lights that brighten your day. A University of Virginia engineering professor and her former graduate student are already there.

Maite Brandt-Pearce, a professor in the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mohammad Noshad, now a postdoctoral fellow in the Electrical Engineering Department at Harvard University, have devised a way of using light waves from light-emitting diode fixtures to carry signals to wireless devices at 300 megabits per second from each light. It’s like having a whole wi-fi system all to yourself; using light waves, there would be more network access points than with radio waves, so less sharing of the wireless network.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-faster.html#jCp

(Reuters) – China said on Friday it will allow 400,000-deadweight tonne ships to dock at its ports, officially ending a more than three-year ban that had effectively shut out Brazilian miner Vale SA’s giant vessels.

Four domestic ports – Qingdao, Dalian, Tangshan Caofeidian and Ningbo – will be allowed to receive the carriers after they meet technical standards, China’s state planner, the National Development & Reform Commission, said in a joint statement with the Ministry of Transport.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/03/china-port-vale-idUSL3N0ZJ15220150703

” It is ironic that the collective pressure on China to lift trade restrictions has caused prices to fall to the point that non-Chinese producers such as Molycorp and Lynas are now struggling, potentially handing back monopolistic pricing power to the Chinese. Indeed, China’s current drive to force its REE sector into six consolidated, vertically integrated producers will only enhance the country’s influence.

The question is how it will use that lever.

Is this about controlling global supply of strategic commodities or controlling its own supply chain?

Many observers outside China, particularly parts of the Western defence industry, fear it’s the former.”

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/rareearths-china-ahome-idUSL8N0ZG39Z20150630