Pangaea ups stake in First Quantum Minerals, shares jump

Costs and challenges for mining the Arctic, meanwhile, on their way up.

Sources close to X2 Resources, Davis' new company, have cast doubts on reports that the firm had made an offer.

About 500 workers will lose their job.

According to The Times, Rio flagged the possibility of a writedown in August.

Woo served as a U.S. State Department representative in Asia for about 15 years with postings in countries including China, Japan and Australia.

The country's ultimate purpose is to extract rare earth elements, breaking China's dominance and pushing prices down.

The U.S. largest miner by market value and revenue is also dealing with a strike threat at its Indonesia's Grasberg copper and gold mine, which recently resumed operations.

Midtier producers will soon be desperate to buy low-cost, high-quality deposits.

Members of the World Gold Council spent last year a total of $47 billion in countries hosting their mining operations.