AMEC cements bond with De Beers Canada
Engineering and consulting firm AMEC has signed a long-term co-operative agreement with De Beers Canada.The two companies have worked on various Canadian diamond projects in recent years. AMEC is comp…
BHP Billiton
Modest recovery projected for base metals in 2003
This article is the second of two instalments devoted to base metals and was culled from Barclays Capital’s monthly report The Commodity Refiner. Part 1 appeared in our Dec. 2-8 issue, and a separate …
BHP curbs copper output
BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, announced that its 2003 copper production target for the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida in Chile, is being set at 1.05 million tonnes, while a…
Altius-Barrick deal triggers gold rush in Newfoundland
St. John’s, NFLD — An increased level of exploration activity in Newfoundland and Labrador has resulted in 30,500 new claims being staked this year (to the end of October), surpassing the previous hi…
Stillwater mauled
The biggest news of the period under review was Noril’sk Nickel’s move to acquire a majority interest in troubled U.S. palladium-platinum producer Stillwater Mining for a combination of cash and physi…
Mud slide kills one at Antamina
A mudslide in early November at the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru has claimed the life of one employee of Compania Minera Antamina.The 240,000-cubic-metre slide also covered several pieces of heav…
Phelps Dodge, Cabot under investigation
The biggest story over the period was the revelation that Phelps Dodge and Cabot are being jointly investigated by American and European antitrust authorities for alleged price-fixing in the carbon bl…
JP Morgan dispels rumours
The gold bugs watched in glee as their arch nemesis, JP Morgan, the counterparty to most gold-derivatives trading, issued a statement that refuted rumours it had recently lost upwards of US$17 billlio…
Fording courts suitors to thwart Sherritt takeover
The Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index slipped 70.37 points to end the Nov. 6-12 report period at 6,329.27.The TSE’s gold index was up 5.39 points, partly on the back of a US$5.70-gain in the pric…
Precious metals miners shine
While gold prices ended the report period virtually unchanged at around US$317 per oz., gold bugs drew encouragement that most of the gold miners showed uncharacteristic strength and added to the prev…
Asarco ponders Mission closure
Vancouver — Asarco, the U.S. subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, is considering closing its Mission copper mine is southern Arizona.The announcement, prompted by high production costs and low copper prices, …
OM in freefall
After dropping from US$40 to US$30 in the previous week, the shares of cobalt refiner OM Group collapsed further during the report period, falling 71% on Oct. 29 to US$8.95 and closing at US$7.49 on t…