Wood Mackenzie cuts iron ore price outlook as markets fall again

It's not often that a junior mining company has star power in its corner. Black Iron (TSE:BKI) was busy fielding media calls Monday when the Toronto-based company announced it has retained celebrated CNN talk show host Larry King to help raise the profile of the company. Black Iron owns the Shymanivske project in Ukraine, an NI 43-101 compliant resource with 345 Mt measured and indicated resources grading 32% iron and 469 Mt of inferred resources grading 31% iron. The project is surrounded by five other operating mines including ArcelorMittal's iron ore complex.

Brazilian mining conglomerate Vale, the world's leading iron producer, reduced its spending budget by 11 percent for 2012 in the face of an uncertain outlook for the global economy and commodities prices. In a statement released today, the Rio de Janeiro-based company plans to invest $21.4 billion on mining projects next year after failing to meet spending targets in 2011.

A group of Indian companies and Canada's Kilo Goldmines Ltd. (CVE:KGL) have been awarded the contract to mine the Hajigak iron ore deposit in Afghanistan. MINING.com reported Nov. 19 that Indian firms were leading the chase for the huge iron ore property, which is being touted by the Afghans as the world’s largest iron ore deposit at 1.8 billion tonnes. The deposit extends over 32 kilometres and covers 16 separate zones. Bloomberg reports that President Hamid Karzai and his government awarded three of the four Hajigak blocks to seven Indian companies, led by state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd. and NMDC Ltd., that were bidding with support from the Indian government. The fourth block was awarded to Kilo Goldmines, which is described on its website as a gold exploration and development company that is actively drilling several past-producing mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Investors are wondering why Russian steel-maker Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works is buying Flinders Mines (ASX:FMS) for A$554 million. Flinder's main asset is the Pilbara iron ore project, a 917.3Mt JORC-compliant resource located in Western Australia. MMK is Russia's third largest steel company. Last year it had revenue of $7.7 billion and net income of $254 million.

The Maritime Executive reports iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5.7 million tons in October, a decrease of 11 percent from September, but an increase of 13 percent compared to a year ago. October loadings also were up 7.2 percent compared to the month’s 5-year average. Shipments from US ports totaled 5.1 million tons, an increase of 18 percent compared to a year ago. However, loadings at Canadian ports slipped 16.3 percent from a year ago.

Fears over the direction of Vale, the world’s biggest miner of iron ore by volume, renewed this morning as the company’s CEO Murilo Ferreira announced late on Monday that he will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the Executive Board. Investors have been particularly cautious of management changes at the miner since Brazil’s government helped push out Roger Agnelli, Vale’s former chief executive, at the end of his mandate in May. The company said that the restructuring aims to establish an operational model with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each business unit.

They were supposed to be the vessels that will ferry iron ore from the world's largest exporter to the world's largest customer of the crucial steelmaking ingredient. Instead, Vale's new fleet of iron ore carriers could remain moored at home docks because the Chinese don't want them. Bloomberg reports that the Vale Brasil, the largest bulk carrier ever built, was designed to carry iron ore to China from Vale's mines in South America, but it has not made one voyage in six months of operation. The reason? China is refusing to accept the vessel, which is part of a fleet of 19 ships that Vale is buying from Chinese and Korean shipbuilders in deals valued at $2.3 billion.

Boardroom chairs are being shifted at two large diversified mining companies, Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Brazilian powerhouse Vale SA, the world's second largest miner. Teck announced yesterday that Marcia Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, will replace Doug Horswell as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs. Horswell, staging into retirement, will work half-time in the company's Zinc and Health program. Meanwhile, Vale announced that coming this Thursday, CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company's Executive Board. Among the changes, the most high-profile is the replacement of CFO Guilherme Cavalcanti with Tito Martins, who currently runs Vale’s base metals division.

Australia’s plan to impose a 30 percent tax on its booming iron ore and coal sectors cleared its biggest political hurdle on […]