BHP, CAT strengthen alliance to develop zero-emission mining trucks

The company said the expansion, to start in early 2019, would add an average 60,000 tonnes of copper a year to its production over the first 15 years of operation.

Budgets jumped about 19%, outpacing last year’s gain.

China is the world's biggest consumer of the metal but its own copper mine production has been stagnating amid a broad crackdown on pollution, exacerbating a heavy reliance on imports.

Swedish mining equipment maker Epiroc AB is aiming to electrify all its underground machines within five years.

Canada’s largest diversified miner has been looking for a development partner for the $4.8-billion extension of Quebrada Blanca copper mine in northern Chile.

Disruptions to cobalt supplies in the DRC are not expected to eradicate a glut of the material used to make batteries for electric vehicles, thwarting hopes that prices can be boosted from their lowest since March last year.

The Vancouver-based miner acquired Altos De Punitaqui, a producing copper-gold operating company.

Exploration drilling at the Kamoa North prospect area, which forms part of the company's Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, has defined two new, continuous corridors of shallow and high-grade copper mineralization.

Tasca believes the historic exploration was solely focused on copper.