Rio Tinto’s Mongolia copper problems highlight frontier country risks

Foreign investors have raised concerns over uncertainty surrounding Australia's mining and carbon tax regimes, with mining companies attacking a government plan to obtain an additional AUD$1.9 billion in taxes via stronger regulation of cross-border profit-shifting.

Newmont Mining's (NEM) second quarter earnings plunged 28% compared to the same period last year on reduced gold and copper output.

Barrick Gold, the world's largest producer of the precious metal, reported higher-than-expected operating costs and a massive capital cost over-runs on Thursday in its first quarterly report since letting go CEO Aaron Regent in June.

Australian exploration and mining firms are readying themselves for forays into Myanmar following the end of decades of military rule earlier this year and the country's opening up to foreign investment.

Release of a pre-feasibility study for Wafi-Golpu in Papua New Guinea is expected any day now and punters hope drilling results that put the deposit into the same league as Freeport-McMoran’s Grasberg mine across the border in West Papua, Indonesia are confirmed.

FTSE 100 miner, copper giant Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) announced Tuesday it had appointed Diego Hernandez, the former head of state miner Codelco, a move qualified by insiders as “a goal” for the London-listed Chilean miner.

Faced with never ending environmental and social conflicts over mining projects, Peru's President Ollanta Humala decided yesterday to reshuffle his Cabinet… again…for the third time.

The diversified miner suffered lower realized prices across the board with copper down 14% to $3.57 a pound, its realized coal price was 26% below Q2 2011 at $202 a tonne. Zinc (-15%), silver (-24%), lead (-22%) and molybdenum (-18%) prices all declined.

Escalating costs and economic instability may be the two main reasons why mining companies worldwide are acquiring existing projects instead of starting their own, shows the latest report from global firm Ernst & Young.