Construction work on a coal terminal at the northern Mozambican port of Nacala is to begin in July. Sources in Mozambique have revealed that Brazilian firm Vale, which will be one of the main beneficiaries of the new facility, has awarded a contract to Zagope of Portugal to develop the terminal.
CVRD has formed a joint venture with Vale Fertilizantes to operate the Ultrafertil concession in the port of Santos. It paid $95m for 51% stake in the business and will invest $273m in total. The terminal imports sulphur, ammonia and general fertilisers.
Researchers in S. Korea have synthesized a divalent wolframite-structure zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) in the form of one-dimensional nanorods; used as anode material in Li-ion batteries, the nanorods deliver reversibly sustained high capacities of more than 420 mAh g–1 after 150 cycles—much higher than the capacities of graphite-based anodes which are limited to 372 mAh g-1.
Harmony Gold Mining upgraded the resource estimate for its Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday increasing it by 57% to over 1 billion metric tons, making it one of the highest grade copper-gold porphyry systems in South East Asia. CEO Graham Briggs said it was a "game-changing asset" for the company and the latest drilling results bring the Wafi-Golpu deposits within sight of Freeport-McMoran’s Grasberg mine across the border in West Papua, Indonesia, which was recently hit by strikes.
Latin American precious metal producer Hochschild Mining said output fell 13 percent in the first half, as expected, and that it was on track to meet its full-year target. It produced 11.1 million silver equivalent ounces in the first half due to lower grades at the company's two main Peruvian operations, declining output from its two ageing Ares and Moris mines, and industrial action at its San Jose mine.
Great Panther Silver Limited (TSX:GPR)(NYSE Amex:GPL) announced the acquisition of four mining concessions, totaling 1,514 hectares, approximately 10-15 kilometres northeast of Guanajuato, Mexico.
BHP Billiton's friendly $12 billion takeover of the US gas company Petrohawk is the group's largest in six years, and its most ambitious foray into the controversial business of shale gas extraction through a process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. While the transaction is a coup for Petrohawk – its shares duly rose 65% to match the takeover price – analysts are skeptical about the prospects of BHP Billiton, the world's most valuable miner, making a success of the deal considering its poor track record with acquisitions, its relatively limited experience in the fracking business, environmental concerns and warnings that it is again buying at the top of the cycle.
We made our first purchase of First Majestic Silver Corporation (FR:TSX || AG:NYSE) on 9th Feb 2011 at $13.13 and decided to hold despite a rapid rise in the order of 92% gained within two months of purchase. As we can see from the chart the stock price has eased along with the correction in silver prices.
Vista Gold Corp.announced Thursday Midas Gold Corphas successfully completed an IPO, issuing 12,307,700 common shares of Midas ("Midas Shares") for gross gross proceeds of Cdn$40,000,025 million. Based on the IPO price of Cdn$3.25 per share, Vista's investment in Midas is expected to have a value of Cdn$103,358,499 and based on the number of issued common shares of Vista, this is equivalent to Cdn$1.45 per Vista share.
Northgate Minerals announced on Wednesday that it will acquire Primero Mining for $370 million. The new company, which will have a combined market capitalization of approximately $1.2 billion, will be a mid-tier gold producer and will tie together the San Dimas mine in Mexico; the Fosterville and Stawell gold mines in Australia; and the Young-Davidson gold development project in Ontario.