Rio Tinto aims for “intelligent” Australian iron ore mine

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources, defending itself in court after awarding prospecting rights to a company linked to President Jacob Zuma’s son, will seek criminal charges against the plaintiff Sishen, part of Kumba Iron Ore, a company controlled by Anglo American. Kumba and Indian iron ore giant ArcelorMittal are asking the High Court to overturn the award of prospecting rights for the Sishen mine to Imperial Crown Trading 289, whose owners include Jagdish Parekh, a business partner of Duduzane Zuma. Kumba says it’s the only party eligible for the rights to the nation’s largest iron ore mine.

Australia's Fortescue Metals, barely four year after starting commercial mining, said on Friday its year-on-year net profit surged 76% to just over $1 billion driven by resilient demand from China. Shipments by the world's number four exporter rose only slightly to 40 million tonnes, but the price it achieved jumped 68%. BHP Billiton, the world most valuable miner, is set to report a record $22 billion in annual profit on Wednesday thanks in large part to its iron business. The stellar numbers come as global blast furnace growth over the next five years is predicted to rise by a staggering 300 million tonnes as China's construction boom continues unabated. On top of that India's iron ore exports could halve over the same period further bolstering prices that in percentage terms have outclassed even that of gold as the world economy recovered post the 2008 collapse.

China, the world's largest consumer of iron ore, aims to develop and control resources, especially in west Africa, to gain a foothold on supply and tackle the hegemony of three iron ore suppliers – Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton and Vale. Chinese firms have signed a number of iron ore deals in Africa, which at their peak could contribute nearly 250 million tonnes of iron ore when they come on stream in the medium to long term.

Uncertainties with regard to global growth are pressuring the base metal prices. However Nickel especially faces huge downside pressure due to a weakening Steel demand and prospects of new mine operations that will Lead to a supply surplus.

Kazakhstan, strategically placed between China and Russia, has a wealth of mineral riches which it is eager to profit from. While Kazakhstan is probably best known for its oil, changes are on the horizon as mining companies flow in searching for copper, gold, zinc and other natural resources.

Global miner BHP Billiton is looking to build a new rail line between some of its inland Australian coal mines and the coast in a move that could threaten dominant coal haulage firm QR National, a newspaper said on Thursday.

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.