India imports a number of minerals like phosphates, tungsten, potash, gold and platinum every year. Keeping the ever increasing demand in mind, the national mission II on natural resource management (NRM) of Geological Survey of India (GSI) will now take up exploration of these minerals on domestic front as one of the priority area besides looking for rare earth elements (REE).
The first rare earth minerals mine to open in the U.S. in decades could be here in Wyoming. Permitting gets underway this week for the Bear Lodge mine, near Sundance. Rare earths are a group of metals that are critical to high tech devices like smartphones and lasers. They’re currently mined almost exclusively in China. Rare Element Resources’ George Byers says the company is hoping to change that.
Read more at: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/first-us-rare-earth-minerals-mine-decades-could-be-wyoming
Lithium, a key ingredient in lightweight batteries, is already powering the modern world, and could be key to getting the world to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
Look at a satellite image of South America. Halfway down on the left-hand-side is a distinctive white splodge.
Close up, that splodge turns out to be one of the most extraordinary and unspoilt places on earth, the world’s biggest salt flat.
Read more at: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26993915
RENO, Nev. — Take away the remnants of more than 200 exploratory drill holes and you’re left with a rural landscape that looks just like any other in Humboldt County.
Beneath all that sagebrush and dry dirt, however, lies a metal that could potentially charge the Silver State in more ways than one.
It’s a project that represents a $40 million gamble so far for Western Lithium. That’s how much the company has spent to prove the existence of a resource that’s seeing increased demand in a technology-hungry world: lithium.
Jakarta. The government will wait until 2019 to consider granting Freeport Indonesia, a local outfit of the US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the contract extension that it seeks, according to a senior government official.
Freeport’s contract will end in 2021 and it is keen to secure a 20-year extension.
Read more at: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/freeport-indonesia-must-wait-2019-contract-extension/
China’s slowing economy and tougher government anti-pollution efforts are taking a toll on its steel mills, rattling the world’s biggest producer of the alloy and flashing worries of a potential downturn in the global iron-ore trade.
The result is 2 percent of steel-making capacity will be eliminated this year, according to Mysteel.com, China’s largest industry researcher. At the same time, steel output will slow to a growth rate of 3 percent, from 7.5 percent in last year, Mysteel said.
Read more at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-10/china-s-li-swaps-steel-production-for-cleaner-air-commodities
(Reuters) – Indonesia’s mining ministry has recommended a sharp cut in the export tax imposed on Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc and Newmont Mining Corp after they promised to build a smelter, a senior official said on Friday.
The two companies halted nearly $4 billion worth of annual copper shipments in January, after the government imposed an unexpected 25 percent export tax on shipments to force miners to process their raw minerals domestically.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/indonesia-mining-exporttax-idUSL3N0N32WO20140411
China’s cobalt metal prices have risen and are likely to rise further, according to market sources, amid recovering demand and tight supply.
On Friday April 11, cobalt metal rose to 199,000-208,000 yuan ($32,261-33,720) per tonne, compared with 198,000-208,000 yuan per tonne last Friday. Some market participants have reported stronger sales in recent weeks. “So far this month, our sales volume has increased by about 30% on the previous month. It seems the market is entering the busy season,” a major smelter said.
Rio Tinto will gift its 19.1% shareholding in Northern Dynasty Minerals, owner of the Pebble project, to two local Alaskan charitable foundations. The decision follows the strategic review announced last year of Rio Tinto’s interest in Northern Dynasty which concluded the Pebble project does not fit with Rio Tinto’s strategy. The shares in Northern Dynasty will be divided equally between the Alaska Community Foundation to fund educational and vocational training and the Bristol Bay Native Corp Education Foundation, which supports educational and cultural programs in the region.
Read more at: http://www.im-mining.com/2014/04/11/rio-tinto-gifts-stake-in-northern-dynasty-minerals-to-alaskan-charities/
China’s largest nickel producer Jinchuan Group raised its benchmark nickel price on Friday April 11, following the recent strong gains for the metal on the London Metal Exchange.
On Friday, the producer’s price was at 120,000 yuan ($19,454) per tonne, up 2,000 yuan from its price the previous day and 14,000 yuan higher than levels a week ago.
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