First Majestic announces Q3 production results and commences commercial production at La Parrilla

First Majestic Silver Corp. ("First Majestic" or the "Company") (TSX:FR)(NYSE:AG)(FRANKFURT:FMV)(WKN:A0LHKJ) is pleased to announce that total production at its three mines in Mexico for the third quarter ending September 30, 2011 reached 1,791,770 equivalent ounces of silver. The total equivalent silver production for the quarter consisted of 1,708,865 ounces of silver, representing a small decrease of 4% from the prior quarter and a decrease of 6% compared to the same quarter in 2010. In addition, 1,891,991 pounds of lead was produced representing a 36% increase from the previous quarter and an increase of 52% compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Also, 409 ounces of gold was produced, representing an increase of 21% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 27% compared to the third quarter of 2010.

Read More

Marketwire - Mining and Metals | October 12, 2011 | 12:00 pm
mexico mining

Endeavour Silver’s production continued to rise in 3rd quarter, 2011; revenues jumped 93% to US$38.8 million

Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE:EXK)(FRANKFURT:EJD)announced today that silver and gold production from the Company's two operating silver mines in Mexico, the Guanacevi Mine in Durango State and the Guanajuato Mine in Guanajuato State, continued to rise year-on-year in the Third Quarter, 2011. Silver production was up 8% to 858,738 ounces (oz) and gold production was up 7% to 4,926 oz compared to the Third Quarter, 2010. Revenues jumped 93% for the quarter to US$38.8 million thanks to both higher silver and gold production and higher realized metal prices.

Read More

Marketwire | October 11, 2011 | 4:46 pm
Oyu Tolgoi

Mongolia re-opens bidding for world’s biggest coking coal deposit

The Wall Street Journal reports Mongolia is relaunching talks with international miners on developing the western block of Tavan Tolgoi in the South Gobi desert, the world’s largest deposit of high-quality coking coal used in steelmaking. Mongolia's National Security Council rejected a deal struck with US giant Peabody Energy, China's Shenhua and a Russian-Mongolian consortium mid-September, just two months after they were announced as winners. At the time losing bidders from Brazil, India and South Korea raised serious concerns and Japan went so far as to call the bidding process 'extremely regrettable'. Mongolia still hopes to privatize its Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coal-mining company which controls the remainder of the 6 billion tonne resource for upwards of $3 billion next year.

Read More

Frik Els | October 9, 2011 | 5:50 pm

Brazil ready to double iron ore royalty but boost fertilizer production

Brazil is offering a carrot to encourage domestic production of fertilizer while at the same time, reaching a little deeper into the pockets of iron ore miners. A Mining Ministry official from the South American powerhouse said Thursday that Brazil plans to boost taxes on iron ore while cutting the levy on fertilizers as part of a plan to overhaul mining regulations, Bloomberg reported: The government is studying a plan to double the royalty on iron ore to 4 percent of gross revenue from 2 percent of net sales now, Claudio Scliar, the ministry’s secretary for geology and mining, said today in an interview. The levy on fertilizers may be reduced from 3 percent to prompt producers to increase domestic output of the crop nutrients, he said, declining to specify the size of the cut.

Read More

Andrew Topf | October 6, 2011 | 8:03 pm

Steel, iron ore prices likely to soften as demand destruction in China takes hold

John Garnaut identifies a disturbing trend for iron ore exporters, with Chinese steel prices falling and iron ore prices expected to follow, he writes in the Sydney Morning Herald. Garnaut quotes Chinese analysts saying that capacity utilization is declining because steel demand and prices are falling, while the prices for raw materials used in steelmaking — namely coal and iron ore — remain high. The steel and iron ore markets were bracing for "volatility on a declining trend", said Yin Jimei, an analyst at Iron & Steel Information Website in Tangshan. Xu Xiangchun, at Mysteel in Shanghai, said market anxieties over the global economy have coincided with softening domestic demand including a decline in railway construction due to a series of scandals in the Ministry of Railways.

Read More

Andrew Topf | October 5, 2011 | 5:52 am

China’s green campaign saves 150m tons of coal

BEIJING - A national energy-saving campaign involving over 1,000 companies managed to save equivalent to 150 million tons of coal from 2006 to 2010, China's top economic planner said Sunday. The companies that consumed half the energy of the industrial

Read More

China Daily | October 2, 2011 | 3:01 pm