LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The world’s warehouses are packed with ever more metal like copper that industrial users think they can use if needed, but they could suffer costly surprises: big financial firms have other plans for the material.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/21/metals-stocks-squeeze-idUSL5N0B8BXE20130221
IRVING, TEXAS — Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that the company was awarded a series of follow-on contracts from Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp for new scopes of work at the Pascua-Lama mining project located on the Argentina/Chile border. Fluor booked the undisclosed value into backlog in the fourth quarter of 2012.
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Swiss-listed diversified miner Xstrata on Tuesday reported record yearly thermal coal and refined nickel volumes for the year ended December, as well as the second consecutive quarter of record Australian zinc production.
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/record-thermal-coal-and-nickel-production-for-xstrata-2013-02-12
Over the last decade Russia’s Central Bank acquired 570 metric tonnes of gold. The amount is almost triple the weight of the American Statue of Liberty and makes Russia the world’s biggest buyer of gold.
http://rt.com/business/news/russia-biggest-gold-buyer-946/
A huge mineral deposit recently discovered in Limpopo province is even bigger than previously thought, and represents “enormous good news” for the future of platinum mining in South Africa, the head of Canadian company Ivanplats announced at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Wednesday.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201302070386.html
Rio Tinto is looking into restarting its Panguna mine in Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s largest sources of copper and gold.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/riotinto-australia-bougainville-idUSL4N0B72ZC20130207
Silver Wheaton Corp said on Tuesday it had signed a $1.9 billion deal with Brazil’s Vale SA to acquire a share of the gold produced at some of the company’s mines in Brazil and Canada.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/silverwheaton-vale-idUSL1N0B5OEB20130205
Jamaica and Japan on Monday started cooperation on rare earth extraction by breaking ground for a pilot plant amid concerns from local environmentalists.
The plant in St. Andrew, funded by Japanese company Nippon Light Metal with initial investment of 3 million US dollars, is expected to extract some 1,500 metric tonnes of rare earth oxides annually from Jamaican red mud.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/760274.shtml
Russian mining giant OAO Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.RS) has approved an investment program worth 75.4 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) in 2013, the company said in a statement Monday.
CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – The global commodities market was at a “very delicate” and “overly pessimistic” stage, Credit Suisse Commodities Research head Ric Deverell said on Monday.
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