MINING.COM MINUTE: Biggest stories of the week

The commodity is now trading below $70 a tonne and has just suffered its largest one-day percentage decline in over a year.

In addition to raising costs for miners and delaying certain projects, the focus on the amount of water used by the extraction industry in the region will boost social pressure and anti-mining sentiment, experts say.

Analysts expect BHP to argue that a demerged petroleum business would need to fund offshore growth projects by raising debt. It may also contend that a stand-alone division won’t have the same ability to defer production until oil prices improve.

After a 85% rise in 2016, iron ore prices are now down 3.2% so far this year, which has placed the commodity in a bear market.

Company says the associated risks of spinning off about $22 billion of its US oil assets and listing them in New York would significantly outweigh any potential benefits.

Alderon Iron Ore Corp. will purchase assets related to the Scully Mine for the purpose of disposing tailings produced from its flagship Kami project

Coking coal prices gained 86% to $283.10 a tonne this week, the biggest gain in four years.

Ore with 62% content in Qingdao fell almost 7% overnight, entering a bear market and erasing all of this year’s gains.

The amount is linked to what is known as “transfer pricing” between Rio Tinto’s Australian operations and its Singapore office.