Copper

Chile’s state-owned mining company Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, reports normal operations following an early morning earthquake northeast of the port city of Valparaiso and which registered 6.7 on the Richter scale.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera signed yesterday an agreement to upgrade the free trade deal between their two nations, which will benefit several miners with presence or planning to explore in the South American country.

A protest against Newmont Mining's proposed Conga copper-gold mine shut down much of Peru's Cajamarca region last Wednesday, reported World War 4 Report.

Peru’s long-running Conga mine dispute is about to reach a turning point as international consultants appointed by the government in February are expected to deliver their report on the viability of proposed water for Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) and Buenaventura’s US$4.8 billion copper-gold project tomorrow.

1,300 exhibitors, 5,000 new products, 35 countries represented, 70,000 visitors and nearly $1.7 billion in future business is the result of ExpoMin 2012, the world mining congress held April 9 to 13 in Santiago, Chile.

MINING.com counts more than 90 billionaires involved in minerals, metals and mining on the planet with a combined wealth of well over $300 billion.

The world's largest copper miner has been forced to buy from other miners and traders to meet its deliveries to customers, a rare move that underscores how the mining industry is struggling to lift output to meet demand for the red metal.

Mining contributed $50 billion to the country’s GDP in 2011, he said, and provides “well paying” jobs for more than 300,000 Canadians.

BHP's four largest projects – Olympic Dam, the Outer Harbour iron ore infrastructure project in Australia, expansion of its US shale gas operations and Jansen potash in Saskatchewan, Canada – require $120 billion in capex costs, but will only start to contribute to the bottom line by 2023.