MINING.COM: Top 10 most popular posts of 2019

The most read articles of the year on MINING.COM cover the range of current themes in the global mining industry.

More than 300,000 readers flocked to the ten stories below, and the posts are reflective of the issues the mining community is dealing with going into the new decade.

It’s not surprising a gold market story topped the list. A sharp drop a week after the gold price hit a six-year high is bound to get attention, as is a prediction that the rally has run its course (so far that forecast holds true). Just outside the top ten is another gold piece with a prediction that could prove true in 2020: billionaire Frank Giustra expects an “explosive” gold market.

At number two is an article that shows the interest of MINING.COM’s readers span the whole spectrum of the industry, including mining’s fascinating history. Automation has become a top concern for mining companies and their workers and a story early this year about how driverless trucks can malfunction came in at number four ahead of another issue the global mining community is grappling with – climate change.

Two battery metals pieces make the top ten for 2019 and these and other popular articles on the topic show that EVs and particularly the fast-moving research into new battery technologies and its implications for mining are top of mind for readers.

Iron ore and coking coal had a tumultuous year, with the price of the steelmaking ingredients moving in opposite directions (our 7th most-read article of the year). The copper market is likely to dominate headlines in the coming years with future supply a major factor in the current rally MINING.COM’s ranking of the top ten copper projects in development around the world is at number eight.

Rounding out the top ten is a moonshot project, literally. European scientists have announced plans to start mining the moon as early as 2025, mostly to extract nuclear fuel.

Here are the most popular posts from 1 to 10 this year:

CHART: Gold price suffers biggest fall in six years

The trades that crushed December-delivery gold in morning trade came in three short bursts of 1moz-plus sell orders.

Archaeologist finds uncommon social relations at Montana mining town

19th century miners working in Highland City, Montana, had a level of societal integration uncommon in North America at the time. 

Three reasons gold price rally is over

Drivers for the rally in the gold price – weakening global growth, safe haven demand and low interest rates – are now baked into the price.

Not so autonomous: Wifi outage results in driverless truck crash at Fortescue mine

The truck was traveling at low speed and crashed into another that was parked at its Christmas Creek iron ore mine in the Pilbara region.

Mining’s unlikely heroines – Greta Thunberg and AOC

Exponential expansion of global mining is the dirty little secret – and glaring blind spot – of Green New Deal evangelists and zero-carbon climate warriors

Scientists find new way to power electric cars using cobalt

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell developed a technique that uses only water, carbon dioxide and cobalt metal particles that have surface nanostructures measuring billionths of a meter in size, to produce hydrogen.

Iron ore price plunges, “panic” selling of coking coal

Traders are concerned about a further drop in demand with the import quotas at Chinese ports nearly exhausted.

RANKED: Top 10 copper mining projects in the world

Of the identified copper still to be extracted, about 65% is found in just five countries: Chile, Australia, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.

Researchers in Canada develop million-mile lithium-ion battery

The cells’ ratio of energy storage ability to weight is 20% higher than that of the cathodes used in lithium-ion batteries used in electronic devices

Mining the moon ready to lift off by 2025

European scientists have announced plans to start mining the moon as early as 2025, though what they’ll be extracting is neither gold nor diamonds, but waste-free nuclear energy thought to be worth trillions of dollars.