Brazil state fines Anglo American $37.73 million over pipeline leak

In what is likely to be upbeat year for Australian mining M&A, some large Asian and U.S. companies are ready to bet on the country's coal, iron ore and uranium assets to meet booming demand for power.

Miner Fortescue Metals shipped a record 14.77 million tonnes of iron ore in the December quarter.

The Porto Sudeste tunnel project in Brazil features a 20.5 m wide tunnel and will accommodate four conveyor lines to become one of the widest tunnels of its type globally.

The market for iron ore is likely to soften this year but industry leaders Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are not pulling in production, betting that the slowdown in steelmaking is temporary.

The country hopes the new platform will help strengthen its pricing power and wrest control from Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which between them control three quarters of global seaborne ore supplies.

Brazilian iron ore producer Vale SA (VALE) will likely wait until the end of the Lunar New Year to sell a massive cargo of iron ore that was delivered into the Chinese port of Dalian via one of its “very large ore carriers” or VLOCs at the end of December, two traders said.

The Australian reports the Queensland government is going after speculative prospecting by what the state treasurer termed two-dollar shell mining companies, slapping the industry with $375 million in additional fees. Under the radical new rules competitive cash-bidding auctions for mining exploration permits will replace the flat $1,030 application fee in force currently.

Reuters reports spot iron ore was trading close to seven-week highs after a cyclone closed down the world's largest export terminal in Australia and heavy rains in three Brazilian states halted Vale's shipments.

South Africa’s black-controlled diversified mining company Exxaro Resources is putting the Republic of Congo (RoC) on the map as a new African iron-ore development frontier with its R3-billion (A$338-million) cash takeover offer of African Iron.