Sibanye-Stillwater shuts down Cooke gold mine, about 7,000 laid off

The Top 10 Metals & Minerals Industry projects in Canada are dominated by large-scale oil sands and metal mining projects. What was once considered a large project is being dwarfed by today's mega-projects. Projects exceeding $1 billion are no longer rare, but commonplace. Currently, there are 67 projects in Canada with a total investment value (TIV) of $1 billion or more.

Brokers Collins Stewart and Evolution Securities were upbeat about iron ore producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO), which released production figures today. The firm reported numbers for the second quarter of 2011 revealing that pellet production from its own ore had increased 6.9 percent compared to Q1.

Caterpillar has made a key announcement on the progress of its autonomous truck program. Together with Australian dealer WesTrac, CAT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fortescue Metals Group to implement an autonomous mining solution for Fortescue’s new Solomon iron ore mine.

The Guardian reports the billionaire chief of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal is planning a giant new opencast mine 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle in a bid to extract a potential $23bn worth of iron ore. The mega-mine – which includes a 150km railway line and two new ports – is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the Arctic and highlights the huge commercial potential of the far north as global warming makes industrial development in the region easier.

It is reported that Russian mining and steel producing company Evraz Group is going to build a new section rolling mill in southern Russia. The production capacity of the mill is expected to be 450,000 tonnes of products per year.

Reuters reported that global volume of iron ore swaps may jump to 80 million tonnes by 2015 around four times last year level as interest in the hedging tool rises. The projected volume represents nearly 13% of China iron ore imports of more than 618 million tonnes last year.

Bloomberg reports Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore miner, cut its target for 2015 output by 10%. The Rio de Janeiro-based company expects to produce 469 million metric tons a year of the steelmaking ingredient by that time, compared with an Oct. 28 forecast of 522 million tons, it said today in an e-mailed statement. No more details were given. Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira, who replaced Roger Agnelli this year after the Brazilian government criticized Vale’s strategy, is cutting targets amid concern raw materials demand in China will slow as the country boosts interest rates to combat quickening inflation. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s GSCI commodity index is heading for a second monthly drop.

Stocks in Labrador Iron Mines Holdings ended up 5% in Toronto on Thursday after reporting that on June 29, 2011 the first loaded iron ore train departed Silver Yards for the Port of Sept-Iles travelling over the TSH and QNS&L railways. This historic event is the first commercial iron ore train from the Schefferville area in almost 30 years. Labrador is developing twenty direct shipping iron ore deposits in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec. LIM’s properties are part of the historic Schefferville area iron ore district where mining of adjacent deposits was previously carried out by the Iron Ore Company of Canada from 1954 to 1982.

Outotec has agreed with Samarco Mineração S.A. on a turnkey delivery of the world's largest iron ore pelletizing plant in Brazil. The contract value is approximately EUR 200 million, which will be booked in Outotec's second quarter order intake. In addition, the contract includes local EUR 100 million purchases performed on behalf of the customer. Some 90% of the services and supplies for the project will be delivered from Brazil. Image by Outotec