Rio Tinto’s Mongolian copper worries mount

Two of Vale's massive Valemax carriers were in Subic Bay, Philippines for just under a month transferring cargo to smaller ships to carry iron ore onto China, because the 400,000 tonne vessels may not dock at Chinese ports.

Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto not only have to deal with higher projected mining and processing costs at the mega-mine but also development delays and most worryingly, lower ore grades.

China, the world's biggest consumer of coal, said that the gross domestic product came in at 8.1% in the first quarter, the lowest figure in three years.

Harmony Gold briefly dropped to a year low of $9.68 on Friday after the company announced a steep fall-off in output for the first quarter. Now worth $4.4 billion the counter is down a third in a year, but its Papua New Guinea project may be worth that by itself.

The melting ice cap in the Arctic sea could open up access to immense mineral reserves, attracting billions of dollars in investment, but also bringing with it unique risks and challenges, says Lloyd’s/Chatham House latest Risk Insight report.

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) resumed today an ad campaign initially launched in July last year, attacking alleged hikes on the federal government's mining and carbon taxes.

Indonesia wants to have its mining cake and eat it too, as the country, one of the world's largest exporters of copper and coal, will speed up a tax on mining exports, the industry minister Mohamad S. Hidayat told Reuters today.

In what could be considered a slight victory for embattled Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corporation (ASX:LYC), the Malaysian High Court ruled today against a request to review a recent decision to grant the Lynas a temporary licence (TOL) for its processing plant.

Hitachi has built an 11-kilowatt motor that uses no rare earth materials. The motor took four years to develop, and commercial production is expected in two years.