Commodity prices have not bottomed yet — Goldman Sachs
Unless demand picks up or more miners cut output, prices for raw materials are set to stay low for years, or worse, continue to drop, the investment bank predicts.
Reuters reports that sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) and state oil company Sinopec are among three cornerstone investors that will pledge $350 million towards Sunshine Oilsands Ltd's Hong Kong IPO.
Russia's state railway firm Russian Railways plans to build a train line to transport coal in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, with $1.7 billion of investment for a first phase due to be operating by 2017, Indonesia's government said on Tuesday.
The company will immediately mothball four mines in central Appalachia, plans to idle two more by early next year and scale back output at other mines as US coal demand for electricity generation wanes.
South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, appears to be moving away from nationalization of the mining industry to reassure foreign investors but is considering new taxes and "targeted interventions" in the sector, particularly platinum mines.
According to a new European Wind Energy Association report a record 71% of all the new power generating capacity installed in the Europe Union in 2011 came from solar panels, offshore and onshore wind turbines and other renewable energy sources. This at the same time as the world's largest clean coal power station project appears stuck in the starting blocks.
The Telegraph reports Chairman John Bond and CEO Mick Davis risk being voted off the board of Xstrata after being accused of negotiating "a cosy stitch-up" with Glencore and that other major shareholders have threatened to block the deal altogether if the Swiss commodities giant does not offer a "substantial premium."
Sunshine Oilsands, a Calgary-based oil explorer backed by Chinese state-owned enterprises, has delayed the launch of a planned up to $700 million initial public offering in Hong Kong which would have been the biggest in Asia this year.