Company sources say Cutifani is happy to stay beyond his 2020 mandate and that shareholders are not against the idea, but they added that Duncan Wanblad, promoted early this month to group director of strategy and business development, is regarded as a potential successor.

Annual imports of unwrought copper were buoyed by China's crackdown on scrap copper in 2018, part of its efforts to combat pollution.

The fall in iron ore purchases for 2018 came as a 70 percent plunge in profit margins since late October cut the incentive for steelmakers to ramp up output and restock raw materials.

Since the union downed tools at Sibanye's gold operations in mid-November, four employees have been killed during strike-related violence.

Rio Tinto is assessing the full impact of the damage and will do all it can to try and minimize disruption to our customers.

The global initiative requires member countries to disclose how they allocate licences and how much they receive from the companies in tax, royalties and other contributions.

The accident is the deadliest reported so far this year in China's coal industry, known for its poor safety record.

While the general Chinese sentiment is very bullish on the gold price, in India retail buying is weak due to Khar Mass and higher prices.

This project refines the key raw material for the preparation of ternary power batteries from the laterite nickel ore – battery-grade nickel-cobalt raw materials.

Newmont also cut overall production guidance for its North American operations for 2018.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said the capacity expansion ban would also apply to the cement and flat-glass industries.

SOFAZ held 50.95 tonnes of gold worth $2.1 billion at the end of 2018.