Copper

BHP Billiton addressed shareholder concerns about its ambitious investment plans in four mega-projects on Wednesday saying it will match capital expenditures closely with cash flows and stagger the project pipeline.

There is no such thing as an average miner.  There is no such thing as an average salary.  Yet we can get some idea of how well mining people are paid by looking at the average salaries for 2011 on US metal mines recently published CostMine.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) increased its quarterly dividend by 33%, as the company announced Wednesday a 3% increase in its first-quarter profit.

Following the resignation of inveterate dealmaker and founder Robert Friedland a fortnight ago, Rio Tinto insiders and Arthur Andersen alumni have been appointed to lead Ivanhoe.

There are conventionally 2,080 work hours in a year. Thus somebody earning a wage of $20 an hour gets the equivalent of a salary of about $42,000. Considering the mine manager makes about $100,000 to $150,000 a year, it is interesting to take a look at actual wages paid to miners in the United States in 2011.

58% of the world’s refined copper is now stockpiled in China, an increase of 40% in just six months. Traders say the country may hold as much as three quarters of the “spare” stock that is actually available to the market.

The Globe and Mail notes that rules for the second environmental review of Taseko Mine’s Prosperity project has been tightened up, and […]

Canada's gross domestic product surprisingly dropped 0.2% in February, with all fingers pointing at the manufacturing and mining sectors, particularly potash and nickel producers, as the main responsible, says the latest Statistics Canada report.

Newmont Mining could reallocate project funds if an ongoing evaluation of the environmental impact study for its $4.8 billion Conga mine turns economically unfavourable, CEO Richard O'Brien said.