Copper

Shares in some of the world's biggest copper producers are getting trounced as the price of the bellwether metal continues to flounder around the $3.27 per pound mark. Taking a 3-month time frame, Lundin Mining (TSE:LUN) has shed 37% of its share price, BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) is down 22%, Anglo American (LON:AAL) has sunk 15%, and Freeport McMorran (NYSE:FCX) has crashed 28%. Three-month contracts for the red metal fell to a one-month low Wednesday to $7,168 a tonne in intra-day trade in London and extended its losses in New York where it was trading at $3.27 a pound, its lowest level since October 25 and down 30% from its 2011 high of $4.61 set in February.

Nautilus, the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits, announced on Friday a drilling campaign conducted at its tenements in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea has enabled the company to increase the resource estimate at its Solwara 1 project, and to declare a maiden Inferred Resource at the nearby Solwara 12 deposit. Earlier this month Toronto-listed company completed the quarter with a cash balance of $155.1 million, after successfully raising $70.5 million in the first tranche of a $98.1 million capital raising. The final tranche of C$27.6 million was received in October. The capital raising involved the issue of approximately 39 million shares at C$2.52 per share. The counter was trading down 2.9% on Friday at $2.29 giving it market worth of $448 million.

Global mining giant Anglo American announced the delivery of the first copper produced from its $2.8bn expansion of its fought-over Chilean mine Los Bronces, amid signs that its battle with its state-backed rival Codelco could avoid the courts.

The mining industry in Quebec is roaring, with $2.92 billion in investment in 2010, up from 43% in 2009. The Institut de la statistique du Québec, which released the findings on Wednesday, said that this was the seventh straight year mining investment increased, and in each of the last three years investment was greater than $2 billion. In March the Fraser Institute warned that changes to the province's tax code would harm business investment, and Quebec slid from first to fourth in the institute's list of mining-friendly jurisdictions. If the changes don't weigh on province, 2011 could be a banner year.

By buying the stake held by defunct broker MF Global, JP Morgan has dramatically boosted its influence in the battle to acquire the London Metal Exchange. As the biggest shareholder JP Morgan now has stronger input into any changes proposed by suitors while making a tidy profit from any sale, but retains the option to team up with others to block a takeover, analysts and industry sources told Reuters. JP Morgan now has a stake of 1.4 million shares or 10.9%, jumping ahead of the former dominant shareholder, Goldman Sachs, but the banks have also come under scrutiny over possible conflicts of interest as it also owns metal warehouses and proved brokerage services. One of the last bastions of open outcry trading, the 134-year old exchange handles some 80% of global trade in metals futures.

London-listed base minerals explorer EMED Mining (LON:EMED) enjoyed a 6.5% bump in its share price Wednesday on news that the government of Andalucia is supporting a restart of its Rio Tinto copper mine. The mine has no connection to the Anglo-Australian mining giant of the same name. EMED said "the Junta de Andalucia has made clear public policy statements committing support for the company’s plans to restart the Rio Tinto Mine as soon as possible, the most recent such statement being in Minas de Rio Tinto last week by the Minister for Economy in Andalucia."

Reuters reports copper hit a one-month low on Wednesday, pressured by worries about the outlook for demand after factory growth in top consumer China slowed in November, a poor bond sale in Germany intensified concerns about the euro zone debt crisis and US efforts to tackle its budget continued to flounder. Three-month contracts for the red metal fell to a one-month low at $7,168 a tonne in intra-day trade in London and extended its losses in New York where it was trading at $3.27 a pound by early afternoon, its lowest level since October 25 and down 30% from its 2011 high of $4.61 set in February. Copper used in the power, telecoms and construction sectors is often seen as a barometer for economic growth, but a new research report suggests "Dr. Copper is Dead" and that the red metal, along with oil, have actually been lagging other economic indicators. In short: things may well be even worse than the fall in the copper price suggests.

Imperial Metals (TSE:III) is extending its Huckleberry mine in northern British Columbia by 7 years. The company said it plans to extend the Main zone pit and build a new tailings storage facility, which will keep the mine running until 2021, 7 years later than the previous plan to close the mine in 2014. The pit is estimated to contain 39.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.343% copper, with an overall strip ration of 1.46 to 1. Since startup in 1997, the mine has produced an aggregate 870 million pounds of copper, 8 million pounds of molybdenum, and 105,000 ounces of gold and 3.4 million ounces of silver.

Boardroom chairs are being shifted at two large diversified mining companies, Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Brazilian powerhouse Vale SA, the world's second largest miner. Teck announced yesterday that Marcia Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, will replace Doug Horswell as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs. Horswell, staging into retirement, will work half-time in the company's Zinc and Health program. Meanwhile, Vale announced that coming this Thursday, CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company's Executive Board. Among the changes, the most high-profile is the replacement of CFO Guilherme Cavalcanti with Tito Martins, who currently runs Vale’s base metals division.