BHP Billiton has announced its intention to temporarily suspend production at TEMCO, its manganese alloy production facility located in George Town, Tasmania, by early to mid March 2012.
The Canyon Fuel subsidiary of Arch Coal has said that it would be scaling back production at the Dugout Canyon mine near Wellington, Utah, in response to continuing weakness in coal demand in the region.
ArcelorMittal has begun commercial iron ore production from its mining operations in Liberia. By 2012, it aims to ship 4 mtpa of iron ore from Liberia. A first test shipment has successfully taken place.
Construction work on a coal terminal at the northern Mozambican port of Nacala is to begin in July. Sources in Mozambique have revealed that Brazilian firm Vale, which will be one of the main beneficiaries of the new facility, has awarded a contract to Zagope of Portugal to develop the terminal.
Chinese steel production and iron ore demand are set to come under pressure from government-mandated electricity allocation restrictions in coming months, according to New York City-based consultancy Commodore Research.
In the latest episode of a decade-long saga over third-party access rights to Pilbara iron ore infrastructure, Australia’s Federal Court has endorsed the decision of the Australian Competition Tribunal not to ‘declare’ Rio Tinto’s Hamersley rail line.
