Western Areas managing director Dan Lougher says the Glencore-Xstrata merger could be the catalyst for a wave of acquisition activity in the WA nickel sector this year, with the new global giant primed to gobble up a number of local assets.
Billions of dollars worth of rare earth elements—the largest deposit outside of China—cannot be mined in Greenland because the elements are bound up with restricted radioactive materials. Some lawmakers are calling for eased restrictions to allow exploitation of the valuable resource.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/greenland-unable-to-cash-in-on-rare-earth-elements-328739.html
Copper in London jumped by the most in almost a month on expectations that a recovering Chinese economy will boost demand from the largest user. Aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel and tin also advanced.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-27/copper-in-london-gains-most-in-a-month-on-china-demand.html
Baosteel, China‘s largest rare earth producer, announced on Tuesday that it had continued suspending smelting and separation work for the third month in an bid to counter recent falls in rare earth prices.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-12/26/content_16058009.htm
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, wants to sell portions of its state-owned tantalum rare earth mine to foreign countries, and it wants investors
from China, Sweden, Germany or South Korea to make a bid on it.
South Korea’s dependence on rare earth imported from China reduced in 2012 as the country diversified its import nations amid the relatively high prices in Chinese commodities, customs office data showed Thursday.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/751371.shtml
It has been reported that the Titanium Industry Development Association (TiDA), based at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in Tauranga, New Zealand, has recently received $7 million in research funding. The funding, to be spread over two years, will focus on developing and adapting powder metallurgy processes to ensure New Zealand is at the forefront of titanium manufacturing technology.
http://www.ipmd.net/news/002054.html
BEIJING – China National Gold Corp is set to make an announcement soon on its talks over buying a stake in African Barrick Gold, an executive at the state-owned Chinese company said on Wednesday.
Vale launched yesterday (3/12) its Vale Investors & Media iPad application during Vale Day New York, an annual event held in the United States. The app allows iPad users to access the company’s and investors’ press releases, quarterly results, annual reports, investors’ and press webcasts of conferences, Vale’s share price on the Bovespa, NYSE and HKEx, and financial and operational performance indicators, as well as offering photos, videos, an events calendar and information on the company’s history in Brazil and across the rest of the world.
http://www.4-traders.com/VALE-SA-6492836/news/Vale-SA-Vale-Launches-iPad-Application-15574848/
Platinum Australia is in advanced discussions with Jubilee Platinum regarding a proposed merger via a scheme of arrangement under which Jubilee would acquire all of the shares in Platinum.
If it goes ahead, the merger would create a mining group with the potential to become one of the world’s top five platinum producers.
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