Copper

If 2010 was the year of rising commodity prices, 2011 was the year of The Deal.

The year of peak construction activity at Oyu Tolgoi mine in the Gobi desert of Mongolia (IM April and May issues this year) is nearing its end, with the project approximately three-quarters complete.

Most commodities, except for the heavyweights gold and oil, are poised for a down year in 2011, the first fall for this sector since the financial crisis hit in 2008.

Three Chinese companies are part of consortiums that have bagged Rs 1,800-crore worth of five contracts awarded by state-owned Hindustan Copper to raise its production four-fold to 12 million tonnes over the next five years.

Formerly called “The Disputed One,” Anglo American’s Los Bronces mine located northeast of Santiago, Chile, is living up to its name. The operation, which is expected to become the world's fifth-biggest copper mine, is at the heart of the ongoing legal dispute between the London-based global miner and Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer.

A once-abandoned copper mine in New South Wales, Australia is being revitalized through a partnership with a Chinese company.

Due to the high Australian dollar and low molybdenum prices, Moly Mines says the Spinifex Ridge molybdenum/copper project is sub-economic and the company won't be developing it.

Prices of copper on the LME fell on Wednesday after poor housing data in the US raised concerns that demand for the metal could wane

The Atlantic profiles Christmas light recyclers, a job that moved to China when the environmental restrictions in the U.S. became too onerous.