Southern Copper reviewing Tía María’s budget

Chilean state giant Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, plans to invest over US$4.3 billion this year, said the company’s president Diego Hernandez said on Tuesday

The mining sector's bellwether companies were all beaten down on Monday after China's premier Wen Jiabao delivered a downbeat outlook for the world's second largest economy adding that there were "new problems" to deal with.

Latin America remained the most popular exploration destination, attracting 25% of global explorations spending in 2011, said to the Halifax-based Metals Economics Group's World Exploration Trends report released on Sunday.

Glencore on Monday expressed surprise over health and environment officials in Zambia's decision to immediately close a Mopani copper operation over complaints from residents of a nearby town. The London-listed commodities giant is also set to appear before a British inquiry over tax avoidance in the developing world.

Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of  Glencore International stands to receive dividends worth roughly $110 million on Monday when the commodities giant announces its maiden full-year payment to shareholders.

Two of Zambia's largest copper mines, Glencore's Mopani and Xstrata's Kansanshi were shut over the weekend; the former over health concerns and the other after workers downed tools.

Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to their highest in nearly a decade, data showed yesterday, suggesting oversupply in top copper consumer China where demand has been slower than expected.

A new survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit finds when institutional investors interested in frontier markets were asked to choose two regions out of five, two-thirds see Africa – projected to be the fastest growing region on the planet this year – as holding the greatest opportunity.

Chinese-owned mining company Ecuacorriente will sign a contract to invest $1.4 billion over five years for extracting copper in Ecuador's southern Amazon, reports local newspaper La Republica.