Frik Els, Author at MINING.COM

China factory data roils copper stocks – Freeport down 9%

Freaky Friday looms for gold

Gold faces a crucial test in the coming holiday-shortened week with crucial US jobs numbers out on Friday and the ongoing Eurozone crisis making or breaking the yellow metal's assault on $1,600 and higher.

Frik Els | May 27, 2012 | 9:26 pm

Gold price bounces around on jobs, inflation data

Granted first ever right to hire foreign workers Friday. Saturday shuns 14,000 locals queuing at jobs expo

Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting which is hiring 1,700 foreign workers for the Roy Hill iron mine were absent from the Australian mining association job fair in Perth and so were the $9.8 billion project's main contractors.

Frik Els | May 27, 2012 | 6:22 pm

Beijing iron exchange handled only 8 transactions in its first 3 weeks

It has been a slow start for China’s first physical iron ore trading platform which was launched with the idea that it would give China greater influence on the price of the commodity.

Frik Els | May 27, 2012 | 12:55 am

Big vote of confidence for promoter of Brazil's largest gold project

Amazon fertilizer plays come up smelling like roses

Despite a lacklustre day for the sector – North America's big three Potashcorp, Agrium and Mosaic all suffered losses – two Brazil focused potash mine developers attracted strong investor interest on Friday.

Frik Els | May 25, 2012 | 8:12 pm

Glencore could be looking at First Quantum takeover

It was only a matter of time. Creditors’ lawyers descend on Baja Mining

Friday's complication is just the latest setback for Vancouver-based Baja which has now lost almost 70% of its value this year.

Frik Els | May 25, 2012 | 6:53 pm

Gold price: Hedge funds ready to dump 430 tonnes

Chinese consumption surprise sees copper price come roaring back

Goldman Sachs came out with a report showing Chinese copper usage in April came in at the second highest run rate on record.

Frik Els | May 25, 2012 | 12:31 am

Copper ETFs: The horror! The horror!

A letter from US wire manufacturers to the SEC states this type of investment vehicle in copper would “grossly and artificially inflate prices” and “wreak havoc on the US and global economy”.

Frik Els | May 23, 2012 | 10:08 pm

Brazil's Batista empire keeps shrinking, sells LLX and puts MMX on the market

Zuckerberg lost $1.5 billion in 24 hours, but he wasn’t the unluckiest billionaire. Batista was

The declines wiped $1,744,800,000 from Batista's personal fortune in one day, which means he fared worse than Mark Zuckerberg who suffered more than $1.5 billion in losses as a result of the post Facebook IPO fiasco.

Frik Els | May 23, 2012 | 8:57 pm

Grexit and gold: The first 46 hours

A report on how a Greek exit from the Eurozone may play out based on synthesized scenarios from 21 economists, analysts and academics.

Frik Els | May 22, 2012 | 11:00 pm

Olympic Dam Taskforce CEO to doubters: We’re planning 10,000-strong village, already building airstrip for 737s

The copper-uranium-gold-silver project has a 100 year mining life, so a glitch this year was unlikely to sway a company that thinks well ahead, the CEO of the Olympic Dam Taskforce said Tuesday.

Frik Els | May 22, 2012 | 9:03 pm