Indian centenary iron ore mine goes solar

Kazakh miner ENRC said a keenly awaited governance review was on track to deliver a fully independent board that would take all stakeholder interests into account, when posting first-half profit at the top end of expectations. Kazakh miner ENRC, whose image has been tarnished by the purchase of an asset the Congolese government expropriated from Canadian miner First Quantum last year and a very public boardroom spat, announced a three-month corporate governance review in June.

World no. two iron ore producer Rio Tinto announced on Wednesday it is suspending operations at two mines in Pilbara, Western Australia following the fatality of a worker. "Operations at Brockman 2 and the adjacent Nammuldi mine site will remain suspended until further notice," the company said in a statement. The 27-year old man was fatally injured shortly after 8:00pm while changing out a hydraulic cylinder on a front-end loader. One other work-mate was with him at the time.

The world's number two miner provided funding and logistical support as far back as March 2010 for Red Dog, a movie about a kelpie roaming the mining towns of the Pilbara region and now finds itself one of the principal investors in Australia's number one hit movie of the year. There is a statue in the cattle dog's memory in Dampier, which is one of the towns in the 1970s to which he often returned in the region where most of Australia's iron ore is mined today. Iron ore exports alone contribute some 3.6% or $50 billion to Australia's economy.

The market is expecting BHP Billiton to post record-setting annual profits of $US22.1 billion next week on revenues forecast to be a staggering $71.9 billion. BHP investors, whose stock has hardly moved in a year despite stellar growth rates at the Melbourne-based company, would want to hear if another share buyback will follow the $10 billion round completed in June and any update on its purchase of Petrohawk. The world's biggest miner has a history dating back 150 years and its operations span the globe from potash in Canada (pictured) and coal in South Africa to nickel in Australia and copper in Chile.

Contract mining and construction firm Macmahon Holdings has secured various Australian mining contracts worth $90m. The first contract involves predevelopment work adjacent to current operations at BHP Billiton Iron Ore's Wheelarra mine and mining

India’s iron ore exports could halve over the next five years as the country feeds the expansion of its steel industry and resource nationalism becomes a big driver of policy in Delhi. Lower shipments from India, which exports almost half the 200 million tonnes it produces, should help bolster prices that have more than tripled in three years before massive Australian projects come on stream around 2014. The global trade in iron ore which not long ago featured antiquated annual contracts and secretive pricing has been transformed and Singapore will this week launch the first global iron ore futures contract.

Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited (TSX: LIM) is pleased to report that it has entered into an agreement with the Iron Ore Company of Canada (“IOC”) for the sale and shipping of all of LIM’s 2011 iron ore production. Iron ore from LIM’s new James Mine in northwest Western Labrador is currently transported by rail from its Silver Yards rail head, near Schefferville, via the TSH railway and the Quebec North Shore and Labrador (QNS&L) railway, to the Port of Sept-Iles where the ore is unloaded and stockpiled adjacent to LIM’s Point-aux-Basques dock facilities leased from the Port of Sept-Iles.

China will need large quantities of Australian raw materials as its industrialisation and urbanisation race ahead, despite concerns about weak global economic conditions, Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson said on Friday. Emerson also hinted that a fall in the Australian dollar amid the volatility that has jolted global financial markets for the past week was good, saying its strong currency had hurt manufacturing and exporters.

Iron ore stockpiles at China's 30 major ports fell 0.64 percent week-on-week to 94.74 million tons on Aug. 12, including 13.06 million tons of Indian iron ore stockpiles which fell 6.51 percent, according to Aug. 12 figures from Shanghai-based Mysteel Information. The price of Indian iron ore grading 63.5 percent mostly stands between $186 to $187 per ton, down at least $1 from last week.